Rubber Duck Recipe
You’ll need to buy a selection of rubber ducks in assorted sizes for this cake – the ones from your own bath tub really won’t do! Meringue buttercream topped with sugar pearls gives the top of this cake a real bubbly bath appearance.SERVES 16–20
See Also: Lion Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
FOR THE VANILLA SPONGE✔ 350g unsalted butter
✔ 350g caster sugar
✔ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
✔ 6 eggs, lightly beaten
✔ 300g plain flour
✔ 50g cornflour
✔ 4 teaspoons baking powder
✔ a pinch of salt
✔ 5 tablespoons milk
✔ 6–8 tablespoons jam, any flavour
FOR THE MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
✔ 250g caster sugar
✔ 4 egg whites
✔ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
✔ a pinch of salt
✔ 325g unsalted butter
FOR THE DECORATION
✔ 1kg ready-roll fondant icing
✔ blue food-colouring pastes in various shades
✔ white sugar pearls
✔ icing sugar, for dusting
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
✔ 2 x 23cm round cake tins
✔ string, for measuring
✔ plain round cutters in different sizes
✔ disposable piping bag
✔ plain nozzle
✔ small rubber ducks
See Also: Baked Fried Italian Herb Chicken Legs Recipe
Directions:
MAKE THE VANILLA SPONGE1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 and position the shelves as close to the middle as possible, leaving enough space between them for the cakes to rise. Grease the cake tins and line the bases with discs of buttered baking parchment.
2. Make the vanilla sponge mix following the instructions on here, up to the end of step 3.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared tins and spread it level with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Bake for 30–35 minutes until golden, well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Leave to rest in the tins for 3–4 minutes and then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and leave until cold.
ASSEMBLE THE CAKE
4. Make the meringue buttercream following the instructions on here.
5. Using a long serrated knife, trim the tops of the cakes to level them and cut each one in half horizontally. Lay one of the bottom slices on a cake board and spread it with a third of the jam. Spread about a fifth of the buttercream over the jam and sandwich with another cake layer. Repeat three times and then cover the whole cake with half the remaining buttercream – you want an even, thin crumb coat layer that covers the entire sponge.
DECORATE THE CAKE
6. Tint 750g of the ready-roll icing the palest shade of blue using a cocktail stick dipped into the food-colouring paste and knead until smooth and an even colour.
7. Roll out the blue fondant on a lightly dusted work surface to make a long strip the same length as the circumference of the cake and 2cm wider than its height. It is easy to measure this using a length of string. Trim the ends to neaten them and roll up the icing into a tight roll. Hold the icing against the side of the cake with the bottom edges lined up and, starting at one of the short ends, carefully unroll it around the cake to cover it smoothly. Lightly moisten the join with a little water to seal. Roll the excess icing at the top down to create the effect of a roll-top bath.
8. Divide the remaining icing into 3 and tint 2 of the portions different shades of blue. Leave the third portion white.
9. Roll out the white icing to about 1mm thick and use the cutters to stamp out discs in assorted sizes. Repeat with the blue icings. Very lightly brush the discs with water and press them around the sides of the cake to look like bubbles.
10. Scoop the remaining buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle and pipe little spheres of frosting to resemble bubbles all over the top of the cake. Pipe a mound of bubbles to one side of the bathtub and some more spilling onto the cake board. Scatter with sugar pearls and sit the rubber ducks among the bubbles to serve.