Ombre Tinkerbell Cake | Made From ScratchHappy Friday everyone, I hope you’ve all had a wonderful week so far! I’ve had such a wonderful week of new things, introducing the gorgeous Gem from Blackbird to the blog where each Wednesday she will share her Creme of the Crop posts and of course announcing that my classes are going to be held at the wonderful Studio 46, the next few months are going to be so wonderful and I can’t wait! I’m so excited to share the prettiest new cake with you all - it’s been called the Tinkerbell Cake as it’s for a gorgeous little ladies 5th Birthday today, I think it’s the perfect name for such a pretty ruffle cake!  I hope you all have a fantastic weekend planned, I’m going to be out celebrating my incredible friends Hen’s night tomorrow night - I can’t wait. x
Click read more for the recipe.

Ombre Tinkerbell Cake

lemon cake

You will need to make two batches of this cakes so that you have four cakes, using a 6” and 20cm cake pan – you will need to wash and reprep each pan after each cake has been made. If you have any mixture left over make some delicious cupcakes.
2 1/2 cups (365g) plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups (385g) caster sugar
250g butter, melted
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups (375ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons lemon curd
pink food coloring
Preheat oven to 160°C. Butter and flour your 6” and 20cm cake pans and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and baking powder and whisk to combine. Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave, make sure it doesn’t separate (you don’t want the oil to rise) Add the milk, vanilla lemon zest and curd to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth, add the eggs one at a time and mix until well combined. Slowly pour the melted butter in and mix until well combined and smooth.
Divide the cake mixture evenly between four bowls. 770g of cake mixture for two bowls, this is for the 20cm cake. And 300g into two bowls for the 6” cake. Add 1/2 teaspoon of pink coloring to the first bowl, one of the 770g, and mix until combined, 1/4 teaspoon to the second 770g bowl, 1/4 teaspoon to the 300g and leave the fourth (300g) bowl uncolored. Pour each cake mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 25min for the 20cm cake and 20 min for the 6” cake - or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
If you are like me and only have one cake tin (not four of the same size) make sure you throughly clean the cake tin after each use and run it under cold water to cool it down between uses – you will also have to prepare the cake tin each time for each cake.

Once all four cakes have been cooked and they are completely cool. Using a bread knife gently cut the top of the cake off so they are level.
lemon buttercream icing

You will need to double this recipe - if you have any icing left over use to ice any cupcakes you might make or freeze for later. 
115g butter, softened
60ml milk
500g icing sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon lemon curd
Beat together the butter, milk, vanilla essence and half of the icing sugar until combined. Gradually add in the remaining icing and beat until smooth and creamy – the longer you mix it the whiter it will get.

swiss meringue buttercream

5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar
500g butter, cut into cubes to soften
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons lemon curd
Green food coloring gel
Wipe the bowl and beater of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease – this helps the egg whites get nice and fluffy. Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl and whisk to combine before placing the bowl over a pot of simmer water (not boiling). Whisking the egg and sugar mixture constantly, until temperature reaches 140° F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, whisk until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot to touch and no longer ‘stick’ to the whisk.

With a whisk attachment on a electric mixer mixer, whip the sugar mixture on a medium/high speed until thick, glossy, and the bowl is cool to touch. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on continuous medium speed, gradually add softened butter until combined, mix until it is silky smooth – this icing can curdle, if it does, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth.  Add the vanilla essence, lemon zest and curd and mix well.

Dived the mix between four bowls - 3/4 cup for three bowls and the rest for the other. Very carefully tint the three bowls with the 3/4 cup of icing to three different shades of green leaving the left over icing in the fourth bowl white.

* I used wilton leaf green – you only need the smallest amount possible so be careful.

You can keep the buttercream in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week, leaving out at room temperature when needed and rewhipping in mixer for 5 minutes or until smooth again. It can also freeze for up to 6-8 weeks.

assembling your cake

Layer cakes are all about being patient and having all your ingredients ready to use. While your cakes are baking, I suggest making the both icings during that time – otherwise you can make them the day before to save on time. Layer your four cakes from darkest to lightest.
Using the lemon buttercream, lightly crumb coat the first cake and place in the fridge for 10min to cool. Add a thick layer of buttercream to the top of the cake, leaving the sides lightly iced, place in the fridge again for another 10min. Repeat until you have four layers with a light crumb coat. Refrigerate your cake while you are getting ready to make the ruffle.
Using a wilton 104 tip or petal tip (one that tapers from big to small) fill four icings bag half full with different colours of the swiss meringue butter cream. Starting at the bottom of the cake with the darkest icing and the skinny side of the tip pointing towards you, in un up and down/wave motion go around the whole cake twice with the darkest icing. Then work your way up to the top of the first tier with the lighter shades of green. Once you get to the top of the bottom tier, have the skinny side of the tip pointing to the outside of the cake and go back and forth around the top of the whole cake, then overlapping the next ruffle on top of the last until you have reached the middle. To ice the top tier of the cake repeat the above steps but only with the white icing.
Phew, congratulations you’ve just made a beautiful Ombre Tinkerbell Cake! xo
Ombre Tinkerbell Cake | Made From Scratch

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