Vanilla & Strawberry Piñata Cake

Hi guys, this past week on the 13^th of August it was my birthday and so I had to make my own special birthday cake. I decided to make a vanilla and strawberry cake decorated with sprinkles and with a surprise filling.

(This recipe will make 4x 18cm sponges)

For the Vanilla Sponges:

270g of softened butter

250g of sugar

4 eggs

250g of self-raising flower (if you don’t have self-raising flower just add 1tsp of baking powder and ½ a tsp of baking soda to the flour mix).

1tbsp of vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 175ºC

First mix the butter and sugar until the mixture is quite white and very fluffy, next add the 4 eggs one at a time and mixing well before adding the next one. Sift the self-raising flour into the mixture and beat well. Now add the tbsp of vanilla extract and a small pinch of salt. Now grease the 18cm pans and divide the batter equally in between the four pans. Now place them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until when you touch the top they bounce back and don’t wobble.

When the cakes are cooled grab a small round cookie cutter and cut a circle in the middle of two of the sponges, then reserve until you’re ready to fill and stack the cake.

For the strawberry filling & decoration:

1x strawberry sauce (You can make this by placing 400g of fresh strawberries in a pan together with 110g of caster sugar and let the mixture simmer until it forms a thick paste with some grains and hardly and chunks in it. When it is still cold strain the mixture through a sieve to get all of the seeds out and reserve in the fridge so that it will be cool when making the filling).

500g of softened butter

900g of icing sugar

1tbsp of vanilla

Sprinkles

8-12 packets of Smarties

First beat the butter for about 3-5 minutes or until creamy and fluffy. Now gradually add the icing sugar until it is all incorporated and then beat for a further 5 minutes. With an ice-cream scoop, scoop 8-10 balls of icing into a separate bowl and reserve. With the rest of the icing add the vanilla extract and the sprinkles, then reserve at room temperature. With the cream, which doesn’t have vanilla in it add a few tablespoons of the strawberry sauce to taste, until you feel that it has the right flavour.

To fill the cake:

Place a sponge that, doesn’t have a hole in it and cover it with some strawberry icing, then place a sponge, which has a hole in it, and place some icing on it, but be careful not to touch the hole in the middle too much. Now place the other sponge with a hole in it and place the smarties through the tube until they reach the top of the hole. Cover the sponge with icing except from the hole and then place the last whole sponge on top. Now you’ll be left with some strawberry icing which you can reserve at room temperature. Now get the plain icing and apply a very thin coat of icing all over the cake to cover any crumbs or holes. Place the cake in the fridge for 15 minutes until the cake is ready to be decorated.

This is the surprise!!! :D

When the cake has been chilled decorate it with the rest of the plain icing and try to make it as smooth as possible. With the rest of the strawberry icing place it in a piping bag and pipe 8 circles on top of the cake and then make a border on the bottom to cover up any imperfections. I decorated the circles on top with some Rainbow Meringues to make the cake stand out.

I hope you like this cake and that your guests will love the surprise inside.

Lucia