Football Cake
Great for a football fan.
Ingredients
-
250g Unsalted Butter
-
75g Cocoa Powder
-
50ml Sunflower Oil
-
400g Caster Sugar
-
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
-
4 Eggs
-
300g Self Raising Flour
-
1 tsp Baking Powder
-
Buttercream
-
100g Dark Chocolate
-
250g Unsalted Butter
-
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
-
500g Icing Sugar
-
Decoration
-
White Ready to Roll Icing
-
Black Ready to Roll Icing
-
Red Icing Pens
Directions
Whenever there is an excuse to bake a cake I take it. I made my own chocolate birthday cake and a white chocolate cranberry cake for a Christmas eve party, which is probably why I’m now the go to cake maker for family and friends. This football cake was for one of Billy’s cousins. He wanted a chocolate sponge with a football theme for his 16th.
The cake and buttercream recipe are from my new ‘Cake recipe collection’ by Sainsbury’s. I used two 8 inch tins and just rounded it off with a knife which was relatively easy. I looked in loads of shops for a pentagon shape cutter for the black icing but couldn’t find one anywhere. In the end I used a template but you can buy cutters online.
I don’t use fondant much as I don’t like the taste so I was a bit worried about how it would turn out. I’m impressed at my first attempt! The cake turn out really good so I will definitely use this recipe for future chocolate cakes. It had a nice rise and and the buttercream tasted great!
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan. Grease two 8 inch circular cake tins. In a small bowl, whisk in the cocoa powder into 125ml boiling water then mix in the oil. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a little of the flour after each egg to prevent curdling. Beat in the cocoa mixture and gently fold in the remaining flour and baking powder. Divide between the two tins and bake for 40-45 minutes.
Once cooled, place the two cakes on top of each other on a cake board and use a knife to round off the top of the cake. Do this a little at a time to avoid mistakes. It doesn’t have ti be perfect as you are going to buttercream it next.
Melt the chocolate and leave aside to cool. Using an electric hand whisk, beat together the butter and vanilla extract for 2 minutes to soften. Add half the icing sugar and beat on a low setting until combined. Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat for a further 1-2 minutes. Mix in the cooled, melted chocolate.
Spread a layer of butter cream on the bottom cake and place the second layer on top. Starting from the top, spread the remaining icing down the sides of the cake. Fill in any gaps with the buttercream and make sure you give it a smooth finish as any imperfections will be visible through the ready to roll icing. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden slightly.
Sprinkle icing sugar on your work surface and roll out the white icing to cover the cake. Take the cake out of the fridge and cover with the white icing. It may help to place the cake on an upturned bowl. Smooth it over the cake and cut of the extra icing. Roll out the black icing in the same way. Use a cutter or template to cut out 5 pentagons.
Place the first pentagon in the centre of the cake (you may need to use a little butter icing to stick them on). The top point of the other pentagons should line up with each point of the centre pentagon (see photos for reference). Use a blunt object to join the point of each pentagon to create hexagon in the white icing.
You can leave the cake as it is or use and icing pen to write on the cake. I cut out the numbers from left over white icing and coloured them red to make them stand out more.
Ingredients
| 250g Unsalted Butter | |
| 75g Cocoa Powder | |
| 50ml Sunflower Oil | |
| 400g Caster Sugar | |
| 1 tsp Vanilla Extract | |
| 4 Eggs | |
| 300g Self Raising Flour | |
| 1 tsp Baking Powder | |
Buttercream |
|
| 100g Dark Chocolate | |
| 250g Unsalted Butter | |
| 1 tsp Vanilla Extract | |
| 500g Icing Sugar | |
Decoration |
|
| White Ready to Roll Icing | |
| Black Ready to Roll Icing | |
| Red Icing Pens | |
