White fondant and food gel colouring, or different coloured fondants, for Mr and Mr Crab and decoration
Note: Grown ups needed for help and supervision.
METHOD
Preheat the oven to fan 180’C. Grease and double-line the base and sides of 2 x 23cm deep cake tins.
Using
electric beaters or a freestanding mixer, beat together the butter and
sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, crack the eggs and
whisk together with a fork. Slowly add the eggs to the butter and sugar
mixture, with the vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour and
baking powder, then add to the egg mixture, using a spatula to scrape
down the sides of the bowl to make sure it is well combined. Add the
milk, then mix to combine.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a
skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 20 minutes then
turn the cakes out onto wire racks to cool completely.
To make
the buttercream, whisk the butter until light (using an electric hand
whisk or a freestanding mixer). Slowly add the icing sugar, loosening
with milk, until light and fluffy.
Level the tops of the cakes,
then slice each one in half. Sandwich all four sponges together with
strawberry jam, then use a serrated knife to slice a small portion from
all four sides (to make a rough square with rounded edges). Save the
cut-offs to crumble into ‘sand’crumbs to decorate. Use some buttercream
to fix the cakes onto a board, then smooth the buttercream over the top
and sides of the cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out the
yellow fondant to 5mm thickness then carefully drape it over the cake.
Ease it down the edges, smoothing it as you go, then trim the base to
make it flush to the sandcastle. Top the corners with four squares of
yellow fondant.
Roll out some brown fondant and cut out a door
shape, then fix it onto the yellow base, securing it with a damp
paintbrush, if necessary. Create windows, shells, starfish and seaweed,
and dot these around the outside of the sandcastle. Add extra details
with piped white icing. Top the sandcastle with Mr and Mr Crab, and
finish with sand, made from crumbled cake leftovers.