When I replaced my cake tins back in February, it was in part inspired by a birthday cake request. Because I like to plan things, when I have an upcoming birthday, I like to get cake suggestions in early. So I have time to plan, to make a special cake. Investigate recipes.
Two months is, perhaps, a tad excessive (I had about a month for the almond cake I made), but it gave me time to replace the tins, and find the time for an expedition to Marks & Spencers, because what was requested was a Percy Pig cake. And then I spent time thinking about how best to make a Percy Pig cake.
I did consider layers of different flavoured yogurt cakes, sandwiched with raspberry and strawberry jams (one for each of the fillings, not both together). But in the end I kept it simple: a straightforward sponge, with a blueberry jam from IKEA. Let the Percy Pigs on top do the talking.
But, because I planned for a three-layer cake and I'd previously only tested two-layer cakes with my tins, naturally, this meant that I had to practise first, to find out how much I needed to scale my sponge recipe up by.
Previous experiments confirmed that a two-layer sponge is a three-medium-egg recipe. We had four large eggs going spare from the weekly shop, which I figured was probably about right for three layers. So Tiny and I set to and found out, with a chocolate orange sponge held together with blood orange curd we'd picked up from a National Trust trip.
Fortunately, it was a success. And very delicious it was, too! The chocolate orange Easter egg I melted down for the icing was a bit less of a success, but you can't win them all. For the Percy Pig cake I'd do a proper dark chocolate ganache to cover the cake and hold the Percy Pigs on with. I'm not very keen on buttercream: it's too temperamental, too sweet, and then you have to keep the cake in the fridge. Ganache is easier to work with, I find. And it reduces the amount of butter I need.
And then, since this was a birthday cake, it needed something a little extra. Something special.
Percy Piglets in the middle. OK, this was also because one of the layers sank a little in the centre, but let's not focus on that. It was always going to have the Piglets in the middle. Honest. Not a last minute decision at all.
It was delicious, and well-received. What more do you need in a birthday cake?
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