PINK OMBRE TRIPLE LAYER CAKE RECIPE

I turned 31 on Sunday and with a whole day ahead of me before I went for dinner with my family, I decided to bake myself a little birthday cake. Homesense had kindly sent me a gift card to go pick up some baking bits, and with everything from cake stands, to icing kits and all sorts in-between, I was in there in a good hour choosing what to get. OK, I was looking at Christmas decorations as well but still, there was a lot to look through.

I kept seeing pretty pink ombre cakes on Pinterest, so I decided to have a go at baking one for myself. I bought myself this beautiful ceramic cake stand for £7.99, a huge mixing bowl from the same line - something I've needed since moving into my flat - again, for £7.99 and an icing kit for £5.99. The cake stand is just beautiful and I think I'm going to get a bell jar to go over the top of it and make a little flower feature to go inside it at Christmas.  

Anyway, let's get on to the best part, how to make this cake...

I'm a huge fan of easy recipes, and this literally couldn't get any easier. You just have to put all the ingredients below in a bowl, mix until a smooth consistency and then separate into three cake tins. I don't bother with parchment paper, I just grease the tins with margarine and the cakes never stick. 

Ingredients

Sponge cake

340g caster sugar

340g unsalted butter

300 plain flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp bicarbonate soda

6 large eggs

2-3 tablespoons of milk

Hot pink food colouring 

Frosting

350g icing sugar

175g soft unsalted butter

Hot pink food colouring

I wanted the inside to be ombre too so once I had filled the first cake tin, I added a little pink gel food colouring - Aldi do their own which is great - and added that to the second cake tin, adding a little bit more to the remainder and filling the final tin. Looking back, I should have added more colouring as it came out a very light pink and I wanted a darker shade, but it still looked effective. Pop in a pre-heated oven for 25 minutes and leave to cool. 

In terms of the icing sugar, it's easier if you make up a batch and split it into three separate bowls as you'll need to start with the darker icing first. Again, add your food colouring until you get a shade you're happy with and then spread all around the bottom layer. The good thing about this frosting is that you don't need to be neat - always a plus in my book. 

To finish, create a lighter pink, add around the middle and finish off with the plain frosting on the top. I added some faux flowers to finish the cake off and voila, there you have my triple layer pink ombre birthday cake. What a mouthful. From the reaction of friends and family, this definitely hit the sugar taste buds, and thanks to Homesense I could present it on this gorgeous cake stand. 

I find baking really therapeutic, and think I'll create some more regular baking bits on Apartment Number 4 in the future. Let me know if you give this a go yourself, and next time you're at Homesense make sure you check out their huge baking offer.