Hannah and Andrews Engagement Cake

6oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
6oz Self Raising Flour
1Tsp Baking Powder
1Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda
2Tsp Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs
8oz Cherries (Chopped)
4oz Desiccated Coconut
1Tbsp Milk




Cooking time: In a pre heated oven on 160'c / Gas Mark 4 for 45-55 minutes
Serving: 8" round spring bottom tin



1. Grease the cake tin and pre heat the oven
2. In a bowl whisk together the butter and sugar until the mixture has formed together and formed a nice smooth, fluffy consistency
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and vanilla essence together for a few minutes until the mixture has doubled in volume
4. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the creamed butter mixture. Whisk for a good couple of mixture until the mixture is all mixed together and formed a good smooth consistency. Using a wooden spoon to scrape around the edges
5. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bi carbonate of soda into the bowl
6. Using a spoon, fold the mixture in slowly, a figure of eight is good for this
7. Once it is folded in, weigh out the cherries and coconut together and coat the cherries in the coconut
8. Add the cherry mixture and milk to the rest of the ingredients and fold in
9. Once the mixture if all folded in, you should have a nice dropping consistency
10. Put this into the cake tin and level out
11. Put into the oven to bake, half way through cover with greaseproof to prevent it from burning
12. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a wire cooling rack



Decoration
Ready to Roll Fondant Icing
3oz Butter
1Tbsp Milk
9oz Icing Sugar
1Tsp Vanilla Essence
Strawberry Jam
Blue Food Colouring
Silver ball balls
Writing Icing Pen
Red ribbon (held in place by a pin)



1. Once the cake has cooled, cut it in half (horizontally). Do not worry if it is not perfect
2. Make up the buttercream icing, by putting the butter into a bowl and whisking with a whisk
3. Slowly sieve in the icing sugar and with a whisk bring it to a smooth fluffy consistency with the butter
4. Add the milk and vanilla essence and whisk for a further few minutes
5. Spread approx. 1/2 of the buttercream icing onto one of the cakes (which will form the middle)
6. Place the over half of the cake on top of this
7. Spread the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of jam
8. Roll out the fondant icing till it is the correct size (Big enough to cover the top and sides of the cake)
9. Using a rolling pin to help you, put this under the fondant icing to lift from the surface to transfer over the cake
10. Slowly put it over the cake
11. Press the fondant icing gently down on top and around the sides of the cake and using a sharp knife cut off any excess icing
12. With the rest of the buttercream icing add 1.5 Tsp of blue food colouring
13. Mix this in with a fork and then put the icing into a piping knozzle / bag
14. Around the edge of the cake, pipe swirls
15. With the icing pen, write the letters you wish, in this case A and H
16. I then piped 3 bigger swirls at the bottom and top and put silver ball balls in the middle
17. There you are you have one lovely yummy cake! We then put red ribbion around and sparkles in to make it even more special!

N.B. You can use chocolate chips instead of cherries
N.B. You can colour the icing what ever colour you wish, you can also use buttercream to write the letters
N.B. With the left over fondant icing you can make little models for the cake