Floral Ombre Cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 160°C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line 2 x 6” round cake tins. Place the margarine and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth and creamed together. 

Add the eggs, lemon zest and Lemon Extract and mix into the creamed mixture until smooth, if the mixture begins to curdle add a spoonful of flour. 

Sieve in the flour and Baking powder and fold into the mixture until incorporated. Divide the mixture between the prepared cake tins and smooth the tops. Place in the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out clean. 

Whilst the cake is baking make the drizzle by mixing together the lemon juice and sugar and set aside. Once the cakes are baked remove from the oven and pierce several times with the skewers pour the drizzle over the tops of the cakes and leave to cool in the tins for 20 minutes, remove from the tins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Place the butter in a free standing mixer and beat until it is smooth and glossy. Add the icing sugar in four intervals making sure it is well incorporated before adding the next addition. Once all the icing sugar is incorporated add the Vanilla Extract and beat the buttercream until light and fluffy in texture. If required add 1 -2 tbsp of milk to soften the buttercream. 

Flatten the top of each cake layer using a serrated knife and then cut each cake layer in half to create 4 layers of sponge. 

Spread a small amount of buttercream onto your cake board of serving plate and place a layer of sponge on top. Spread a thin layer of lemon curd onto the sponge layer and a dollop of buttercream on top, smooth the buttercream the cover the sponge layer and create a even layer of buttercream. Sandwich another layer of sponge on top and repeat the above process until you have layered up all 4 layers of sponge. 

Spread the buttercream around the edge and top of the cake and smooth to create an even crumb coat. Place the cake in the fridge to allow the crumb to set for 30 minutes. 

 Divide the remaining buttercream into 3 bowls, add a few drop of Pink Food Colour Gel to one bowl and mix through to create a light pink coloured buttercream. Repeat adding a few more drops of Pink Food Colour Gel to the next bowl to create a darker pink buttercream and mix through Green Food Colour Gel to the third bowl to create a light green buttercream. Place each coloured buttercream into a piping bag.

Once the crumb coat has set, remove the cake from the fridge and pipe a couple of ring of dark pink buttercream around the cake. Then pipe a few ring of light pink buttercream above the dark pink buttercream. Finally pipe a few ring of green buttercream around the cake and on top of the cake.

To smooth the buttercream and create to ombre effect take your cake scraper and smooth the sides of the cake. This should smooth the rings of buttercream and allow the colour the slightly merge together where they meet. Smooth the top of the cake with an angled palette knife. Run a hot palette knife around the edge and top of the cake for a smooth finish.

Place the cake decorations on top in a crescent moon shape to create a floral finish!