Easy birthday drip cake

Name: Easy birthday drip cake
Ingredients: 2 20 cm round cake tins lined with baking paper cake tin liners; 300 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature; 300 g caster sugar; 6 medium eggs; 300 g self-raising flour; 300 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature; 600 g icing sugar, sifted; 2 tsp vanilla essence or extract; 150 g plain chocolate chips; 100 g double cream; chocolate treats or sweets of your choice to decorate

Say happy birthday to that special someone in your life with this easy birthday drip cake by Juliet Sear for FAB Flour. Enjoy!

Brought to you by UK Flour Millers

Say 'happy birthday' to that special someone in your life with this easy birthday drip cake by Juliet Sear for FAB Flour.

The recipe creates an incredible cake and features three layers of moist, flavoursome vanilla sponge, classic vanilla buttercream, a totally decadent chocolate ganache drip and comes finished with your loved one's favourite chocolate bars or sweets for a personal touch! Happy Birthday! Recipe by Juliet Sear for the FAB Flour Easy Peasy Baking campaign, launched by nabim. You can find more Easy Peasy Baking recipes and information on the campaign over on the FAB Flour website or on social: @fab_flour on Instagram or @fabflour on Facebook and Twitter.

Tip 1: When stacking the cake, putting the final layer upside down helps to achieve a flat top. Tip 2: You can tell the cakes are done when the sponges are light, springy, golden and shrinking away from the edge of the tins a little. Tip 3: Instead of using a plate, use a cake board or chopping board with a square of baking paper to sit your cake on while you assemble it. This makes it easy to work on and get in and out of the fridge. Tip 4: Depending on what chocolate treat you are using for the topping, you might like to break them up into little pieces to show the colour of the middle. If you are using larger chocolate bars, it’s really effective to cut these into tall shards and use them to create height on the top of your cake for a dramatic effect. Tip 5: When you are adding your drips, you can use a spoon to encourage the chocolate to fall further down the side of the cake, and remember it looks great if the drips are random lengths.

Content continues after advertisements

Ingredients

Equipment

2 20 cm round cake tins lined with baking paper cake tin liners

For the cake

300 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
300 g caster sugar
6 medium eggs
300 g self-raising flour

For the buttercream icing

300 g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
600 g icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp vanilla essence or extract

For the ganache icing drip

150 g plain chocolate chips
100 g double cream
chocolate treats or sweets of your choice to decorate

Instructions

For the sponges

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan).

In the mixing bowl, beat half (300g) of the butter with all of the caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in the eggs, then mix in the flour until combined.

Put around one third (400g) of the batter into each baking tin, and bake for around 20-25 mins.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn out to cool. Re-line one of the tins and bake the remaining batter to make the third sponge layer.

For the buttercream icing

Place the butter and vanilla extract into the bowl and gradually add the icing sugar, beating until soft and creamy.

To stack the cakes, trim the sponge layers with the bread knife so they are flat on top and stick one of the layers to a plate with a blob of buttercream icing.

Using your palette knife or table knife, spread a layer onto the bottom layer of cake, top with another sponge, repeating the buttercream layer before placing the last sponge layer on top. Gently push down on the cake with your hand to secure the layers. Use the knife to spread a few tablespoons of icing around the sides and top of the cake to create a thin coating. Use any icing that has come out of the layers and fill any gaps between the sponge layers.

Place the cake into the fridge for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, cover the cake with the rest of the icing, and using the knife dipped in a glass of warm water, spread the buttercream icing over the sides and top of the cake, re-dipping in the water to help create a smooth texture. Place the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes.

For the ganache drip

To decorate with the drip, boil the cream in the saucepan then pour it over the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Place a plate on top and leave for a few minutes so the heat of the cream melts the chocolate chips or pieces. Then stir well in the centre with a spoon until it comes together and is smooth and lump free.

Let the ganache cool for three minutes, remove your cake from the fridge and gently pour the ganache over the cake, covering the top and allowing it to drip down the sides. Finish off by adding your chocolate or sweets to the top and enjoy!