Shag Pom Pom Cake!
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 120 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- 3 cups/360g/12.6ozs. cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 280g/10ozs caster or superfine sugar
- 350g/12.4ozs. butter, softened
- 5 eggs, room temperature
- 1.5 cups/375ml/13.2ozs. buttermilk
- 90g/3ozs. sprinkles
For Vanilla Buttercream
- 500g/1.1lbs. butter, soft at room temperature
- 1.4kgs/3lbs. icing sugar mixture, sifted
- 6 tablespoons milk or cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Pink, teal, mint green, fuchsia, electric orange and baby
- 75g/2.6ozs sprinkles
- 7x #234 medium grass tips
- 8 piping bags (1 large, 7 small)
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 130C/266F. Line 2 x 15cm/6inch tins with parchment on the base and sides. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a beater attachment mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda and sugar together. Whisk the eggs with the buttermilk in a jug.
Step 2 - Beat in the butter and it will look like buttercream. Then add the egg milk mixture until it looks like a cake batter. Lastly, stir in the sprinkles. Divide into the two tins. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until the centre springs back when touched gently. Cool completely.
Step 3 - Make the buttercream. Beat the butter for a minute or until smooth. Add the icing sugar and beat on low speed at first and then increase and add the milk or cream. Beat for 4 minutes or until fluffy. Fill a large piping bag with the vanilla buttercream.
Step 4 - Slice the cakes in half horizontally and place one layer on a cake disc. Pipe two circles of frosting around the edges (I just snipped the end of the bag) and then fill the centre with confetti sprinkles. Repeat two more times. Then pipe icing around the edges and top of the cake and smooth down with an angled spatula (it helps if you have a cake turntable and can use a buttercream smoother). Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to set.
Step 5 - Meanwhile divide the remaining buttercream into a 7 bowls. Tint these in all of the colours leaving one vanilla. Place in a piping bag fitted with a #234 medium grass tip. Take the cake out of the fridge and start piping the shag texture onto the cake. I did it in patches making sure to touch the cake with the tip to avoid it falling off. Pipe on the sides and top. Place in the fridge to set the buttercream.