This cake is a two tiered poker cake. Each cake has three layers of chocolate vanilla and chocolate. The filling is buttercream and strawberry jelly.
The cake was made over three days. You can find the recipes for the chocolate and vanilla cake, as well as buttercream recipe are below.
Day 1: Made the marshmallow fondant. Created the fondant motorbike, and let it dry in a cool place. Place the remaining fondant in double wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
Day 2: Made the cakes, cooled them, wrapped them in cling wrap and stored them in the fridge overnight.
Day 3: Set the cakes and fondant out of the fridge for about an hour. Once the were at room temperature, trimmed the cake evenly. Prepared the buttercream frosting, filled the piping bag, frosted and filled the cake layers. Set in the fridge for 2 hours.
In the meantime, kneaded and rolled out the fondant to a good consistency. Covered the chilled cakes in fondant. Smoothed it out and set it aside.
Prepped and cut out fondant details. Placed them on the cake. Stacked the tiers and placed the prepared bike topper on the top tier.
Vanilla cake recipe:
Makes 2-8 inch cakes, about 2 inches high
3 cups all purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup instant coffee powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup hot water
1 cup butter milk or 1/2 cup thick yogurt diluted with 1/2 cup water
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat the oven at 350 degree F or 175 degree C.
Prepare the cake pans. I prefer using aluminium pans over glass or non-stick ones. Grease the insides of the pan with butter, then dust flour over it to form a double coated lining. Set aside.
Mix the coffee powder and hot water; stir and set aside. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar baking powder, soda, salt, cocoa powder and butter. Mix for a minute, do not over-mix. Add the hot coffee and stir to combine. Beat on low for a minute.
Add eggs one at a time while beating the mixture on low, waiting until each egg is incorporated before putting in the next one. After that, pour in the buttermilk, beating on low.
Check the temperature of the batter, it needs to be at 70-72 degree F or 21 degree C. This will allow the cake to rise evenly without crowning. If its too cold, let it rest until it reaches desired temperature. If its hotter, place it in the fridge for a few minutes.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool them in their pans for atleast an hour. This will allow complete cooling.
If you are frosting the cakes, I suggest you make the cakes a day in advance, cool the cakes, cling wrap them and let them chill in the fridge overnight. Chilled cakes are easier to work with, less crumbs to deal with while frosting, and are great to cut into even layers.
Chocolate cake recipe:
Makes 2-10 inch cakes, about 2 inches high
2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup thick yogurt
4 eggs
Preheat the oven at 350 degree F or 175 degree C.
Prepare the cake pans. I prefer using aluminium pans over glass or non-stick ones. Grease the insides of the pan with butter, then dust flour over it to form a double coated lining. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix flour, sugar baking powder, soda, salt and butter. Mix for a minute, do not over-mix. Add the hot coffee and stir to combine. Beat on low for a minute.
Add eggs one at a time while beating the mixture on low, waiting until each egg is incorporated before putting in the next one. After that, pour in the milk, followed by yogurt, beating on low.
Check the temperature of the batter, it needs to be at 70-72 degree F or 21 degree C. This will allow the cake to rise evenly without crowning. If its too cold, let it rest until it reaches desired temperature. If its hotter, place it in the fridge for a few minutes.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool them in their pans for at-least an hour. This will allow complete cooling.
If you are frosting the cakes, I suggest you make the cakes a day in advance, cool the cakes, cling wrap them and let them chill in the fridge overnight. Chilled cakes are easier to work with, less crumbs to deal with while frosting, and are great to cut into even layers.
For the filling, I used regular, seedless strawberry jelly/jam whisked well.
Buttercream frosting recipe:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup margarine
1 Tbsp warm milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
In a large bowl, combine the butter and margarine; beat on low speed for a minute, then add the sugar; beat on medium speed for a full five minutes dd milk and salt midway. It won't look like icing at first, but keep the mixer going for a full five minutes, and then you're done. Chill it for about 15-30 minutes before adding it to a piping bag, and decorate. Enjoy!
Here is a video of the fondant motorbike cake topper :-)