Neapolitan celebration cake

Tamara West

The cake base can be made a few days in advance, once cool wrap the cake with plastic wrap and store in an airtight container. Ice on the day.

Cake

4 cups	Flour, sifted (Main)
5 tsp	Baking powder
2 ½ cups	Sugar
380 g	Butter, melted
6	Eggs
600 ml	Milk
3 tsp	Vanilla extract
5 drops	Food colouring, I used pink, use more to colour as desired
2 Tbsp	Cocoa powder, sifted

Butter icing

500 g	Butter, soft
2 tsp	Vanilla extract
4 cups	Icing sugar, sifted (Main)
5 drops	Food colouring, I used pink, use more to colour as desired
1 packet	Cake decorations, I used pink sugar pearls

Directions

Cake

1. Heat the oven to 160C. Line 3 x 20 cm round cake tins with baking paper and lightly grease.
2. In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and vanilla to a smooth batter.
3. Divide the batter into 3 even lots by pouring out 750g into 2 other bowls. Add pink food colouring to one bowl and mix well. Add the sifted cocoa to the second bowl and mix well, leaving the third bowl with no additions.
4. Pour the cake batters into the three tins and cook for 50 minutes. They are cooked when a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then tip out on to cake racks.

Butter Icing

1. Whisk the butter with an electric beater for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides then add the vanilla and icing sugar.
2. Whisk for another 5 minutes. Add the pink food colouring and whisk well to combine.

To build the cake

1. Level the tops of each of the cakes, if necessary, by using a bread knife to cut around the outside edge then right through, lifting off the mounded centre.
2. Evenly spread ¾ cup of the icing on each of the three cakes. Place the pink cake on a serving plate or cake stand, place the chocolate layer on top of the pink, and the vanilla on top of the chocolate.
3. Spread the remaining icing over the sides, turning the cake as you go to keep the icing even. Sprinkle the top with pink sugar pearls.

Tip

Try decorating the cake with chocolate shard. Check out Ray McVinnie's video onhow to make them.