3D Strictly Come Dancing disco ball trophy cake

This cake is perfect for celebrating the Strictly final! Bright, sparkly and fun.

Dr. Oetker have teamed up with expert Fondant Fox to create this funky disco ball trophy cake to celebrate the Strictly Come Dancing Finals.

3D Strictly disco ball trophy cake

You'll need:

• 2 x 6inch diameter hemisphere (half a sphere) tins (I bought mine from Amazon)
• 1 x 5inch square cake dummy (for the base of the trophy)
• 1 x round cake card 5inch
• 1 x round cake drum 8inch
• 5 x cake pop sticks

Ingredients for the disco ball Chocolate cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream filling:

• 450g plain flour
• 170g Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder Tub
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp. Dr. Oekter Bicarbonate of Soda Tub
• 1 tbsp. Dr. Oetker Baking Powder Tub
• 700g caster sugar
• 250ml vegetable oil
• 500ml whole milk
• 4 eggs 1 tbsp. Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract 35ml
• 500ml boiling water
• 1tbsp instant coffee

Ingredients for the Buttercream Filling / Flavouring:

• Dr.Oetker Easy Fill Cake Centres Salted Caramel
• 500g icing sugar
• 250g unsalted butter (softened)

For Decorating:

• Dr.Oetker Regal Ice Ready To Roll White x 2
• Black ready to roll icing
• 1/2 tsp sugarcel (you can get this from Amazon) - this will firm up the icing for the squares.
• Dr.Oetker Shimmer Spray Silver
• 1 pot sparkly hologram silver edible glitter (I used rainbow dust)
• Square sugar paste Cutter (around 2cm diameter)
• Icing sugar (to dust your work surface)
• Non-stick rolling pin
• Small knife
• Clean small paint brush
• Star cutters
• Dr.Oetker Extra Strong Gel Food Colour Hot Pink

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175c.
2. Grease each cake tin really well to stop the cake mix from sticking to the sides - I used a bit of the vegetable oil and then placed the tins onto 2 small round cake tins to stop them from rolling around when in the oven.
3. Weigh all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and with a hand whisk, mix until all evenly blended in together.
4. Add the wet ingredients 1 and whisk by hand again until the mixture is smooth, glossy and lump free.
5. Then add 500ml of freshly boiled water and 1 tbsp. of instant coffee and whisk by hand until smooth.
6. Pour the mixture into each tin until around 1 inch from the top and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
7. After 10 minutes, turn out of the tins and you may need to use a palette knife to ease the cake away from the sides of the tin.  Now leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Filling / Crumb coating:

8. Place the butter and icing sugar along with 3 tbsp. cold water into your mixer and beat on a slow speed until the butter and icing sugar come together
9. Scrape the sides and beat for around 5-10 minutes until your buttercream is really white, light and fluffy, then place in a bowl and swirl through about half a sachet of the Dr.Oetker Easy Fill Cake Centres Salted Caramel, to give a delicious flavour to your buttercream.
10. Go back to your cakes and trim the top of the cake (i.e. the middle of the sphere) so that it’s really flat and in line with the top of your tin (you can put the cakes back in the tin to do this and use the top of the tin as a guide).
11. Cut the cakes in half (horizontally) and fill with buttercream, then place each half (flat side down) onto a cake board and with a small palette knife, spread a smooth thin layer of buttercream around the whole surface of the cake.
12. Place each half in your freezer for around 30 minutes to get really firm.
13. When the cakes have chilled, take one half of the sphere and place onto a cake board, then in the centre, insert 4 cake pop sticks and trim them with scissors until they are in line with the top of the cake.
14. Add a blob of buttercream and stick the 5inch cake card down.  Now this should give you a stable surface to add the top half of the cake - stick this half onto the card with another blob of buttercream, then with your pallet knife, fill in the join around the middle, and you should now have a perfectly round cake!  Place the cake back in the freezer to firm up again, ready for the icing!

Covering the cake:

15. Knead the icing until soft and smooth, then dust your work surface with icing sugar, to prevent the icing from sticking
16. Roll your icing until around half a cm thickness, and add to your cake.  Use the palm of your hands to smooth the icing onto the cake, and smooth down under the cake to the base of the disco ball, as low as possible.  Trim away the excess.
17. Cover the square dummy in the black fondant icing in the same way.
18. Take the leftover white fondant and add the Sugarcel, and knead this in really well. This will make the fondant much stiffer, so that you can cut the squares and the stars. Colour a quarter of the icing with the Dr.Oetker Extra Strong Gel Food Colour Hot Pink.
19. Roll both colours of fondant onto a surface dusted with icing sugar and this time, roll much thinner (to around 2mm thickness).  Cut out as many squares and stars as you can with the Sugarcel icing.  To add the squares to the disco ball, add a little water to the back of each square, and starting from the middle of the disco ball, stick on the squares with a tiny bit of room in between.
20. Work your way up to the top and down to the base of the disco ball as low as you can fit the squares in.  Now stick on the pink stars to the dummy tier.  It’s now best to leave the disco ball overnight for the fondant icing to set a bit (if you have time).
21. The next day spray the with the Dr. Oetker Shimmer Spray Silver, then straightaway dust over the whole of the ball with plenty of glitter, using your paintbrush dipped in the edible glitter, then tap gently over the cake.
22. Leave to dry for around 10 minutes. Insert a cake pop stick into the middle of the dummy, then carefully place the disco ball on top of the star covered dummy.
23. Now stand back and marvel at your creation and tuck into it when enjoying the Strictly Final !