Most themed or sculptured cakes have more icing on it than your average tea-time cake, whether you opt to make use of butter icing or, as in this case, plastic icing and royal icing. Because of the added weight, cakes often sag. This cake recipe is "icing friendly" and can bear the load. It has a fine crumb and stays fresh for 2 -3 days.
I freeze my cakes before sculpting as it prevents the cake from breaking.
330g butter, room temperature
550g granulated sugar
5 eggs
5ml vanilla
660g cake flour
1,2ml salt
250ml milk
Preheat your oven to 180℃.
Line the cake tin which has the shape you want to make use of with aluminium foil, shiny side down and spray it with baking spray. This enables you to remove the cake from the pan and freeze it as it is, before sculpting it into your chosen theme.
Add the butter and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment.
Cream the butter and sugar, scraping the mixture down once or twice, until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, incorporating them into the butter mixture.
Sieve the dry ingredients into a separate bowl.
Measure the milk into a jug.
Turn the mixer onto a slow to medium speed and alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
Scoop the batter into the baking tin. The tin should be about two-thirds full.
Bake for an average of 35 minutes, BUT CHECK THE CAKE AS YOU MIGHT HAVE A DEEPER TIN.
When a wooden skewer comes out clean after being inserted to the centre part of the cake, you may remove the cake from the oven.
Cool the cake on a cooling rack before freezing to shape/sculpt.
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