Tricolore Cake

I made this cake for The London Lad‘s mum. They have a place in France and she’s a big Francophile, so TLL thought it would be cool to do a French Flag cake. The best bit was seeing the surprise on her face when she cut it open! The cake is one I adapted slightly from a Bakerella recipe for yellow cake. It’s a moist sponge that holds its shape well, and is ideal for layer cakes. The measurements are in American cups, which are readily available in the UK. I did it with a zingy lemon frosting since TLL’s mum doesn’t like things too sweet. The frosting is a light buttercream with a real kick – if you don’t it too tangy, add the juice of three lemons instead of five. I made it up as I went along and I’m really happy with the way it turned out! If you don’t like lemon, try a vanilla frosting by adding in a tsp or two of vanilla.

• 1 cup soft unsalted butter
• 2 cups of caster sugar
• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 3 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup of whole milk (room temperature)
• 3 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla extract
• Paste or gel food dye – blue and red (I use Sugarflair)

Zingy Lemon Frosting

• 500g icing sugar
• 175g soft butter
• zest of one lemon
• juice of 5 fresh lemons
• 3-4 tbsp milk

1. Preheat oven to 180ºc.
2. Grease your cake tins (8″ round) with some cake release or vegetable oil.
3. Pop the butter and sugar in a standmixer and beat on high for 5 mins until it’s really pale and fluffy.
4. Beat the eggs in a jug and add a little at a time.
5. Add flour and milk to the buttery mix, alternating between flour and milk, beginning and ending with flour.
6. Add vanilla and beat until just mixed. Split the batter evenly between three bowls. Add the blue food dye to one bowl until you achieve a good dark blue. Add the red to one of the other bowls until you’re happy with the colour. Leave the other one plain. This will be your ‘white’ layer.
7. Pour the batter into individual cake pans.
8. Hold each layer about 10 cm above your surface and carefully drop the pans flat several times to ensure air bubbles are destroyed. This will ensure an even surface.
9. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes (depending on your oven) until they bounce back or a skewer comes out clean.
10. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes.
11. Remove to cooling racks. Leave for 10 mins, then wrap each layer in cling film to seal in moisture. Cool completely on racks.

    

1. Put the butter in a mixer and beat until very soft. Slowly add half of the icing sugar and beat.
2. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice. Beat gently.
3. Add the rest of the sugar and beat for 2 mins. Add the milk and beat on a medium speed for 5-7 mins until fluffy.
4. Taste – if it’s not lemony enough, add more juice.
5. Once the cake is completely cold, spread generously on the blue layer and pop the white layer on top. Frost another layer, and add the red sponge.
6. Working evenly, spread the frosting all over the cake until you have a smooth, even cake which hides all trace of the food dye. You might want to keep a mug of boiling water to hand in order to keep the palette knife warm – dipping it in and wiping off the excess will ensure a warm knife and a smooth finish.
7. Decorate as you like!

Enjoy!