I loved making this cake. It was for my son’s first birthday! But I was really stressed while backing it as I was really looking for an outstanding result. The visual wasn’t as good as I wanted, but the taste… Yummy!
We have eaten a lot of cakes before the birthday as I’ve made an awful amount of trials. I finally went for a 3 layers sponge cake with coconut cream frosting and blue buttercream rosettes.
It was great to bake my baby’s first cake! So glad to have done it!
Birthday Cake
Equipment
- 3x 8-inch round cake pans
- Hand mixer or Stand mixer
- Pipping bag and nozzles
- Angled palette knife
- Buttercream smoother/scraper (optional)
Ingredients
Sponge Cakes
- 360 ml soy milk
- 1½ tbsp vinegar
- 300 g cream flour [1]
- 1½ tsp bicarbonate soda
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 111 g oil
- 270 g golden caster sugar
- 30 g coconut sugar
- 90 ml water
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract
Coconut Cream frosting
- 2 can full fat coconut milk [2]
- 6 tbsp icing sugar [3]
Rosette Buttercream
- 100 g baking margarine
- 200 g icing sugar [3]
Instructions
Sponge Cakes
- Start the oven and preheat to 175°C.
- Grease and line 3 8-inch round cake pans with baking paper.
- Mix the milk and the vinegar on a bowl and leave it to curdle for a few minutes.
- On a separate bowl: mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
- On a separate bowl: Mix the oil and the sugar. Then whisk together.Then add the water, the lemon juice, the vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined.
- When the oven is at the right temperature, mix the curdled milk to the liquid preparation.
- Add the liquid preparation to the dry one and stir gently until the batter is smooth and lump free.
- Pour into the greased pans
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
- Let the cake rest for 5 minutes in the pans then remove them and let them rest on a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes or until completely cooled (this might depend on the room temperature).
Coconut Cream Frosting
- Open 2 tins of coconut milk (you can save the water to add in smoothies) and place the somehow solid coconut cream in a bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer).
- Mix using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whisk for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add 6 tbsp of icing sugar (see note [3]) and start mixing again: start on the minimum speed in order to avoid the icing sugar storm.
Rosettes Buttercream
- Place the margarine on bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer).
- Mix using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the flat beater for 5 minutes.
- Add a ⅓ of the icing sugar (see note [3]) and start mixing on the lowest speed. When the sugar is well incorporated increase the speed to medium-high and mix for 2 minutes.
- Repeat the previous step twice until all the icing sugar is incorporated.
- If you want to color you buttercream this is the perfect time to add the dye [4]. If so mix for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Place the buttercream in a pipping bag.
Decorate the cake
- Place one of the sponge on a cake stand/board or a plate.
- Add a ¼ of the coconut frosting and spread it evenly on the cake.
- Place a second sponge on top and repeat with the frosting.
- Place the third sponge and use the rest of the frosting to frost the top and the sides of the cake using an angled palette knife.
- Using the buttercream to decorate the cake: can be use to make beautiful rosettes for example!
Notes
[1] I use the Cream Flour from Odlums for this cake. If you cannot find it and are living in the UK the Self Raising Flour from Tesco is a good option as well.
[2] For making the frosting, the can of full fat (at least 17 % fat) coconut milk will have to stay at least 24h in the fridge. I find that the brands (available in Ireland) that work the best are Amoy and Freshona.
[3] I noticed that I get a better result by sifting the icing sugar before incorporating to the coconut cream of the margarine.
[4] I used blue spirulina natural colouring from rawnice.