Gluten Free Easter Celebration Cake

Chocolate bunnies and egg hunts, what’s not to love? Easter is just a week away and whether you choose to celebrate the holiday or not, it provides the perfect excuse to make a colourful, buttercream filled, egg topped, sponge layered treat.

This cake was surprisingly easy to put together and makes a show stopping centre piece for any Easter festivities you might have planned. Oh, and it is gluten free of course.

INGREDIENTS

For the sponge:

• 250g / 10oz butter
• 300g / 10oz caster sugar
• 400g / 14oz gluten free self raising flour (I am using Doves Farm)
• 80g / 2oz ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 eggs (medium)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt
• Milk (optional / to adjust consistency)

For the icing:

• 500g icing sugar
• 500g butter (unsalted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Milk (to adjust consistency)
• Food colourings. I am using the Wilton ones: HERE

For the decoration:

• x2 bags of Cadburys mini eggs

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line three sandwich tins (if you only have 2, when you have used one – just use this one again). I use tins with pop out bases as it makes the sponge much easier to remove later on.
2. With an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar for the sponge until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually beat in the eggs and vanilla extract, a little at a time so the mixture doesn’t curdle.
4. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and natural yoghurt and beat until you have a smooth batter. To adjust the consistency, add more GF flour or milk until you get a smooth, but not runny batter.
5. Distribute the batter evenly across the tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 minutes until turning golden (do it in batches if you cant fit them all in the oven, or don’t have 3 separate tins). To test the cakes are done stick a skewer through the sponge – if it comes out clean, the cakes are done.
6. Turn them out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
7. Meanwhile, make the icing. With your electric whisk you want to beat the butter for about 5 minutes, it will start to turn lighter in colour. Then gradually sift in the icing sugar, followed the vanilla extract and a little milk – keep going with the icing sugar and milk until you have a smooth and firm yet still very spreadable consistency.
8. Split the icing into 4 bowls. 1 bowl of buttercream you will leave plain. For the others, you will colour with purple, pink and yellow (or whichever colours you like!) by adding a couple of drops of food colouring to each. Mix until all combined.
9. When the sponges are cool, stack on top of one another (ideally on a turnable if you have one) and sandwich together using the plain butter cream you put to one side.
10. Next, split the 3 coloured icings into 3 separate piping bags. Pipe a layer of purple round the bottom tier, a layer of pink round the 2nd tier and a layer of yellow around the top tier and on the top of the cake.
11. Taking a plastic icing smoother, spin the turntable and evenly smooth out the icing blending the colours into one another and discarding any excess. If you don’t have a turntable, just work your way around the cake.
12. Smooth out the top and the sides until you get the desired effect. Decorate the top with mini eggs.
13. Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy and have fun with this recipe. Last year I made gluten free ‘chick cupcakes’ see the recipe HERE.

Happy Easter everyone!

K

X