80th Birthday Cake

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

8oz Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda

3 Eggs

12oz Glace Cherries (Halved)

2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

1 Tbsp Milk

Cooking Time: 35 minutes on a pre heated oven of 150c / Gas mark 3. Make sure half way through you cover the cake with greaseproof paper

Serving: 8" deep Spring round cake tin

1. Pre heat the oven and grease proof the baking tin

2.Cream together the butter and sugar with the whisk for a few minutes

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the vanilla essence and eggs together for a few minutes

4. Slowly whisk the eggs into the creamed mixture a bit at a time until the mixture becomes soft and fluffy in consistency and has increased in volume

5. Use a wooden spoon to scrape around the edges to ensure all the mixture is mixed in

6. Into a separate bowl sieve the baking powder, bi carbonate of soda and flour

7. Chop the cherries in half and put into the bowl with the flour and coat the cherries in the flour

8. Fold the flour mixture slowly into the creamed butter mixture a bit at a time with the milk, do this until all the mixture if mixed in thoroughly and forms a good consistency

9. Pour the mixture into the tin and put into the oven to bake

10. Half way through the baking, cover the cake with greaseproof paper

11. Remove the cake from the oven and leave in the tin for a few minutes before transferring the cake to a wire cooling rack to cool

12. While it is cooling you can make the buttercream icing

Buttercream Icing

3oz Butter

8oz Icing Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 Tbsp milk

1. Cream the butter in a bowl with a whisk until soft

2. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl a bit at a time

3. Use a fork and then a whisk to whisk the icing sugar in with the butter

4. Add the vanilla essence and milk to the icing and mix in well but not too much that it becomes runny

5. When the cake is cool, cut the cake horizontally in half and spread the buttercream on to one of the sponges

6. Then place one sponge on top of the other with the buttercream icing in the middle and place on to a plate or board

Decoration

1 packet of Fondanct Icing

1 quantity of Buttercream icing as above divided in two

Yellow and red food colouring

Ribbon

Silver ball balls

Strawberry jam

1. Cover the top and side of the cake with a smooth thin layer of jam, this helps the icing to stick to the cake

2.Roll out the fondant icing onto a level surface sprinkled with a bit of icing sugar so it does not stick to the surface

3. Once the icing is rolled out, using a rolling pin, cover the rolled icing onto the rolling pin (this makes it easier to then cover the cake)

4. Put the edge of the rolled icing onto one side of the cake and using the rolling pin flip the icing over the cake

5. Once it is over the cake, gently press the icing around the cake

6. Using a sharp knife cut off any excess icing and press the icing in firmly around the bottom of the cake

7. With the buttercream, divided into 2 bowls, add a few drops of yellow food colouring to one and red to the other

8. Using a fork mix the food colouring into the buttercream until it has coloured the icing and is one colour throughout

9. Fill a piping tube / bag with the yellor food colouring and a medium size twirl nozzle

10. On too the cake pipe swirls around the edge of the cake and near the bottom of the cake pipe 4 swirls and then 1 underneath. Do these swirls slightly bigger and place a silver ball ball in the middle of them

11. With the red food colouring, put in the pipping bag / tube with a small swirl knozzle at the bottom and write 80th on to the cake

12. I used red food colouring to match the red ribbon I used and I chose yellow as it is a colour of spring.

13. Then when the cake is done, you can tuck in!

14. You can eat these on the day or make in advance by up to 2 days