Pretty pastel layer cake for Easter

Forget about chocolate eggs and cookies, decorate a pretty pastel layer cake for Easter.

This Easter-themed cake is very easy to make and only requires a little concentration with lots of creative flair to get right.

Normally we focus on the cake on the inside but with this treat it’s all about the light-as-air buttercream icing, playful colours and finishing decorations.

Easy sponge cake

As we mentioned you can make any cake you want, but here is a lovely classic sponge cake recipe just in case. Vanilla cake with vanilla icing is a classic match.

Makes 2 cakes.

Ingredients:

• 30 millilitres of milk
• 30 millilitres of water
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 4 eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup of sugar

Directions:

1. Grease and flour two round cake tins (no bigger than 18 centimetres). Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Over a low heat, bring the milk, water, vanilla essence and butter to a slow boil. Stir to combine and sit aside to cool.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
4. Separate the egg yolks and whites into separate bowls. Whisk the yolks with a fork and sit aside for a moment. Using an electric mixer on high, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add the yolks a small portion at a time, taking care not to overbeat or lose volume in the whites.
5. Gently fold in the flour mixture, a third at a time.
6. Gently pour in the milk mixture while stirring.
7. Divide the mixure into the two cake tins. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a clean skewer comes out.
8. Sit aside to completely cool before icing (you can make the sponge the day before, just store in an air-tight container once it has cooled).

Easy buttercream frosting

Easily covers a double-layer cake.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 2 x 500 gram bags of icing sugar
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence (you can swap this for any flavour, any time)

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until it turns pale and creamy.
2. Add in one whole bag of icing sugar and mix on high until it is thick and fluffy (around three minutes).
3. Add the milk and beat on high — don’t be alarmed if the mix collapses a little, just keep beating until it fluffs up again. Add the vanilla.
4. Add in the remaining icing sugar one cup at a time. You might not need it all so just taste and test the texture after each addition. You want it to be spreadable.

How to layer the icing

1. Divide the buttercream into three bowls. Then, pick one bowl to be the top colour, you will need more of this icing so take a heaped tablespoon out of the other two bowls and add to this one.
2. Colour each bowl with a different colour. Use tiny amounts of food dye as you want pastel colours and can always build up.
3. Take your cakes and sandwich together using some of the middle or bottom coloured icing.
4. Using a spatula or palette knife spread your bottom colour all the way around the bottom edge of the cake. Don’t worry about it being neat just yet. Then do the middle section, followed by icing the top of the cake and working your way down the side to create the top layer (clean the spatula when going from each colour).
5. Then using a clean knife (back edge) or palette knife, stand it up right along the edge of the cake and run it around to smooth the icing. You may need to tap off excess icing as you go.
6. You can run the spatula around a number of times to blend the colours or just do it once or twice to let it have that rustic look.
7. Top with mini Easter eggs and sprinkles, as your creative heart desires.

More Easter fun

Easter card ideas for kids
Easter craft for kids
Easter school holiday destinations