Ombre rose cake

When my friend suggested making an Ombre rose buttercream cake, my first thought was mmm that sounds like hard work. In reality though, the sponge recipe is fairly easy to make adding some food gel colouring to each layer to get the fantastic colour contrasts.

For the buttercream, again its just a case of dividing up the mixture and adding some food colour (sparingly I might add!) and giving it a good mix. The buttercream roses can be a bit tricky, but with a few goes are easy enough to master. I'm sure you'll agree the end results look great and little Etta was well impressed :) 

This would make a great cake for a party and is definitely for those with a sweet tooth.

For the buttercream (make 2 lots of this to cover the whole cake in buttercream then to make the roses with the remainder)

Sponge cake (this makes 2 layers so we made 2 batches)

• 225g (8 oz) self-raising flour
• 225g (8 oz) butter, at room temperature
• 225g (8 oz) caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Method
Prep:20min  ›  Cook:25min  ›  Ready in:45min 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / gas mark 4.
2. Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl.
3. Mix all of the ingredients using a electric whisk. Add a few drops of food gel we used Wilton colourings.
4. Pour the mixture into 2 non-stick 7 inch (18cm) tins.
5. Place them in the oven till golden brown 15-25 minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

For the buttercream

250g unsalted butter, 500g icing sugar, food colouring/gels

Beat like fury.

Makes about 16 portions.