happy hippie birthday

Hello. So it was Carmie's birthday last Saturday (Hip Hip Hooray). She gave me (absurdly) rigid instructions on how she would like her birthday cake to look... "80's...kitsch...100s and 1000s." The challenge was cheekily accepted and this was the result... 

The sponge cake turned out delightfully light and moist. It behaved - as a simple recipe such as this one should - and seemed to fulfil all of her specifications. 

You can change it up a bit with different decorations etc. This recipe should give you enough batter to make 2 round cakes (20-25cm in diameter). 

To explain the post's title... our official room birthday song is Happy Hippie Birthday by Soko. It's not the happiest of songs, but she's great. 

Anyhoo. Happy baking!

the classic kitsch birthday cake

400g salted butter 

400g castor sugar

8 medium eggs

400g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g icing sugar

250g soft butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons 100s and 1000s

preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius 

cream together the butter, sugar and teaspoon of vanilla extract until pale and fluffy (this can take up to 10 minutes)

beat the eggs lightly in a separate bowl and slowly add them to the mix - if the mixture starts to curdle, add a bit of flour

once the mixture is well combined, mix in the flour at a low speed

line two baking tins with baking paper or grease well with butter

spread the batter evenly into the tin 

(the sponge tends to rise more in the centre, so try to spread the batter higher on the edges)

bake the cakes for 20 - 45 minutes 

(when the sponge is cooked when it springs back to the touch and the sides are coming away from the tin. you can also insert the tip of a clean knife into the centre - it should come out clean)

once the sponges are baked, let them rest until completely cooled before icing

for the icing, beat together the icing sugar and butter with an electric mixer on high

add the teaspoon of vanilla extract an continue to mix

to make the icing lighter, I used a white gel food colouring and a pearl powder which worked surprisingly well

once the sponges have cooled you can begin the icing process

smear a thick layer of icing over the top of your base cake layer

gently place the top sponge directly on top of the base cake

using a palette knife (or the smoothest knife you can find) smooth a generous layer of icing over the top and along the edges of the cake - no sponge should be visible at this point

cover the top of the cake with 100s and 1000s - leaving a 1cm border around the edge without sprinkles (this is to avoid spilling the little ones down the edges)

using a piping bag with your desired nozzle (I used something like below) pipe your cake around the edges until your heart's content

have a happy hippie birthday

happy fooding