Saturday 18 August 2012

Butterfly Cake



I made this a few weeks ago for a colleague's leaving do. We went out for dinner and drinks the night before so I had to make something quick and simple.  I knew I wanted to make a cake but wouldn't have time to make a fancy layer cake so I decided to jazz up a sponge cake with jam filling to look like a butterfly. 

I used to make these quite often pre-blog which is why I'm only sharing this with you now. Since starting my blog, I've tried many new recipes and tend to make something different each time so I can blog about it. This cake has brought back memories of my early baking days and I will try to share a few other tried and tested recipes with you on my blog in the coming months. 


 leftover blackcurrant jam from we should cocoa challenge last month 

 fill the cake with jam 

 spread buttercream frosting on top 
 
 add a little glitz and glamour 

 slice the cake in half and turn them around as shown to create the butterfly wings 

 add a giant twix bar in the middle 

For the sponge
250g butter
250g caster sugar
250g self raising flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the buttercream
100g butter
200g icing sugar
few drops of food colouring 

  • Preheat the oven to 170C.
  • Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
  • Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
  • Add in the vanilla extract and flour.
  • Divide evenly between 2 round sandwich tins.
  • Bake for approximately 15-18 minutes or until it's golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool completely before assembling.
  • Place 1 cake on a plate. Spread jam evenly over the top.
  • Sandwich with second cake.
  • To make the buttercream icing, mix all the ingredients until smooth.
  • Spread the icing on top of the cake and add sprinkles.
  • Slice the cake in half and turn both halves around as shown.
  • Add a twix bar in the middle. 


27 comments:

  1. This is a cute idea for a cake. I am sure your colleague loved it.

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    1. Everyone was impressed and it tasted good too!

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  2. What a lovely and simple idea to jazz up a sponge! Thanx for sharing Ros.

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  3. Clever idea for a butterfly! A bit like butterfly fairy cakes, but on a much grander scale!

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    1. Indeed! You can make them different colours and use all sorts of sprinkles - always gets a wow whenever I make it.

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  4. Wow! This is a lovely cake! Never have thought of turning a round cake into something so cute! Great idea ! :)

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    1. Thanks! It'd great when you're short on time but need something just that little bit special :)

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  5. I absolutely love it

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  6. You are so clever - I would never have thought of that. Love it, as I am sure your work colleagues did too ;0)

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    1. Thanks! I can't even remember where the idea came from as it was so many years ago.

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  7. That is very pretty and easier than buying fancy cake tins :)

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    1. Definitely! You can be more fanciful in your decorations but I didn't have time with this one.

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  8. This is such a simple idea and yet it looks brilliant...it's so pretty! I love the twix down the middle too!

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    1. I love great simple ideas :) I'm also glad I could find a giant twix as the normal size one was too small.

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  9. Very pretty and I love the giant twix!

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  10. What a brilliant yet simple idea!! I guess you could get really creative with wing shapes etc but this is just such a fab idea! Looks gorgeous too. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. You can be as creative as you want to be! Its a great starting point :)

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  11. Replies
    1. Thanks! Everyone fights for the twix bar when I make this!

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  12. What a cute butterfly, I would never have thought of such a simple yet effective idea for a cake. Can't wait to see some of your tried and tested recipes. Blogging definitely makes you try more recipes but sometimes it's fun to go back to the old recipes which got you excited about baking in the first place.

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    1. Thanks! I love that you can use different colours and sprinkles to create different butterflies :) I've definitely found that I don't repeat recipes often because there's so much to try but it's definitely good to go back to basics at times and I'm on a roll as I've just blogged about lemon cupcakes.

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  13. That's such a cute idea! I was looking at the first picture thinking ah cool a butterfly cake tin then realised it was much cleverer than that!

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    1. Thanks :) I love simple, effective recipes like this!

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  14. How clever, love the twix in the middle - you have been busy!!

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    1. Thanks! Yes been baking up a little storm - I needed some therapy after my traumatic experience!!

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