Birthday cake in pastels

I do relish the opportunity to bake for a reason, not just because I want to. I am pretty sure I haven't baked an actual cake since the decorating classes I did last year as mentioned here. So it was really fun to bake a cake last week for a colleague's birthday. I was able to discover somewhat stealthily that a vanilla cake would be happily received. I didn't want anything complicated when it came to the cake recipe because I am sure it wouldn't have been fun having to scramble for more ingredients and a plan B. Thankfully I didn't have to worry about this as the recipe I chose here turned out perfectly. However, I wasn't happy with the height of the cake and I had enough ingredients still so I decided to make a second one. It really helped that the recipe was quick and easy to churn out. Just as an FYI I think I have the cake pan prep down pat when baking cakes. Firstly, I grease the whole pan with margarine followed by a coat of flour. Lastly, I cut out a circle from baking paper the size of the base and place it in the pan. I don't want to jinx myself, but it hasn't failed so far. Anyway back to this particular project, I was going to incorporate chocolate shards around the edge of the cake, but the apartment was too warm so it didn't work out. However, I had already melted the semi-sweet chocolate chips. I melted them in a bowl sat on top of a small water-filled saucepan over low heat. I put a small amount of this melted chocolate between the two cakes. On top of this I placed some store bought frosting that I had had in the cupboard for a while and wanted to use up. Once the cakes were sandwiched together I whipped up a batch of butter cream frosting using:

• 1 & 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 tsp meringue powder

Firstly, I chopped up the butter and whipped it on a low speed for a few seconds, as it was already pretty soft. I added one cup of icing sugar at a time increasing the speed of the mixer as the frosting got thicker. I added the water at this point because the frosting needed to be thinned out a bit. Lastly, I added the meringue powder to ensure the frosting set. I used an angled spatula to apply the frosting to the cake and I probably could have smoothed it over better, but I do think practice will make perfect. This next part is where the chocolate shards were supposed to come into it and look fabulous. I created them by lining a cookie sheet with baking paper and spreading some chocolate on it then putting it in the freezer for a few minutes to set. It was a bit of a train wreck with the chocolate as I mentioned above so I took a deep breath, removed it and went with the end result courtesy of pretty pastel marshmallows. I had originally bought the marshmallows with this project in mind in the first place. I think the cake was a success and a big thanks to my sous chef for the marshmallow colour separating, dishwashing and general calming effect.