Speckled buttercream Easter cake tutorial

Edibles

• 6in round cake
• Buttercream (recipe of your choice)
• Brown petal dust
• Rejuvenator spirit
• Teal food colouring (Colour Mill)
• 30g dark chocolate
• Mini chocolate eggs for decoration

Equipment

• 8in round white cake board
• Small paintbrush
• Grass nozzle
• Piping bags
• Baking paper
• Side scraper
• Cake leveller
• Palette knife
• Turntable

Stacking and crumb coating

1

Start by slicing your cake into four pieces. Using a cake leveller for this makes the job really easy.

2

Stack your cake on your 8in white cake board using buttercream. Stick some buttercream on the board first to attach the first cake then add around one heaped tablespoon of buttercream in between each layer.

3

Add a rough layer of buttercream all over the cake. Make sure you fill in the gaps between the layers. Using a side scraper, hold this straight and level against the cake gently, then turn your turntable scraping away the excess buttercream.

4

Fill in any gaps and scrape again until the cake is smooth. Using a palette knife, on the top of the cake, smooth the outside edge into the middle to sharpen. Pop the cake in the fridge for 30-40 minutes to set.

Cover the cake

1

Take out two heaped tablespoons of buttercream and save for later. Colour your remaining buttercream a pastel shade of green using the teal Colour Mill. Add a much thicker layer of buttercream all around your cake.

2

Start by smoothing over the top of the cake, then smooth around the sides of the cake. By doing the top first, this will achieve a rough top edge to the buttercream.

Add the speckled effect

1

Mix up a little brown petal dust and rejuvenator until it's at milk consistency. Take a small paintbrush and dip this in the brown mixture. Flick this over the cake for a speckled effect.

How to make a chocolate nest

1

Melt 30g of chocolate in your microwave and add this into a piping bag. I fold my piping bag over a glass to make it easier to add the chocolate into it.

2

Snip a tiny bit off the end of your piping bag and pipe some small branches onto some baking paper. Place this in the fridge to set for 15 minutes.

3

With the small amount of buttercream you put aside earlier, add a little cocoa powder to turn it brown. You can microwave this for a few seconds to soften it if needed. Add this buttercream into a piping bag with a grass nozzle in the end.

4

Pipe a circle of this buttercream on the top of the cake. You can mark the top of the cake using a circle cutter or template if you find this easier.

5

Keep building up the layers of this nest shape until it is tall. It also doesn’t need to look neat. The messier, the better!

6

Take the chocolate branches out of the fridge. Peel them off the baking paper and place them around the buttercream nest. Fill your nest with yummy chocolate eggs to finish.