Nothing says British like the Union Jack flag or a bit of afternoon tea, so why not combine both for the ultimate celebration of Britishness? Jelly Belly UK has worked with Helen Best-Shaw from www.fussfreeflavours.com to create this big British beauty of a cake.
Patriot Cake
2014-02-10 16:32:04
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Ingredients
- For the Cake
- 340g / 12oz butter – very soft
- 340g / 12oz caster sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 340g / 12oz self raising flour – sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 tbs milk
- *
- For the Buttercream
- 250g / 9oz butter – softened
- 500g / 18oz icing sugar
- 3 tbs milk
Instructions
- Grease a deep 20cm / 8” square tin, cut a square of baking parchment to fit the bottom of the tin.
- Preheat the oven to GM4, 350F, 180C.
- Place the softened butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
- Add the eggs in one by one, gently beating. If the mixture curdles add a spoon of flour, then the remainder of the eggs.
- Fold in the flour, milk and baking powder.
- When combined pour into the prepared tin.
- Bake for about 40 – 50 mins until risen and golden. (Check after 40 minutes and cover with foil if it is browning too much.) Check it is done by poking a cocktail stick into the cake, when cooked the stick will come out clean, and the top of the cake will spring back when lightly pressed.
- Remove from the oven. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
- To make the icing: Beat the butter well, slowly add the icing sugar and beat well until creamy and smooth. Add enough milk to loosen the mixture so it is spreadable.
- To Decorate: Once the cake is cool use a bread knife to cut the top off to make it level. If you want to, slice the cake in half and sandwich together with jam (pipe a line of buttercream between around the edge of the bottom slice then fill the centre with the jam to prevent the jam oozing out). Use a blob of buttercream to stick the cake to a board or serving plate. Use a pallet knife to coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream. Put the cake in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill. Apply a second thicker layer of buttercream.
Notes
- * To make a marbled cake omit the milk at stage 5, spilt the mixture into 3, add 1 tbs red food colouring to one batch, blue to the second and a tbs milk to the third. Dollop a tablespoon of each batter into the baking pan in turn.
- *
- Recipe, styling & photography by Helen Best-Shaw, www.fussfreeflavours.com for Jelly Belly UK
Tasting Britain https://tastingbritain.com/