GEODE CAKE

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1 - Cook 2 portions of your favourite butter cake recipe. Once cooked and cooled. Slice up your cake into even layers with a sharp knife, we recommend cutting the layers to 1" inch high. The total cake with the buttercream frosting will end up roughly 7" high.

Step 2 - You can flavor your Over the Top Buttercream by adding in some off the shelf flavours or natural flavours like crushed freeze-dried strawberries or even a nice grate of lemon or orange rind is enough to take your cake to the next level!

Step 3 - With an offset spatula, smother on some luscious Over The Top Buttercream and smooth it out so that you have an even surface for the next layer to go on. It's very important to try and be level with each layer as it will help your cake later - don't be too fussy as to waste a lot of time, it's meant to be fun, so enjoy it, just be mindful of the levels as you work.

Step 4 - Pop on the next layer and as you add each layer, check that it's even and not wonky. Nothing worse than getting to the end and realizing you have built a wonky cake!

Step 5 - A great way to add additional flavour into your cake is by syruping your cake layers on each layer! This will also keep it nice and moist! Simply boil up 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water, let it cool and brush over each side of each layer of the cake.

Step 6 - Repeat with more luscious Buttercream, nice and even. Then pop the 3rd layer on, always making sure it's level and even. Continue to repeat this process until you reach the 6th layer. You should now have a beautiful straight cake! At this point I would pop the cake into the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up a little to make it easier to do the next step.

Step 7 - Take the cake out of the fridge and crumb coat the cake, this means, cover the entire outside, top and side, with a light layer of Buttercream, to seal in any crumbs. Pop your cake into the fridge to firm up and set for another 10 minutes. This will help set any crumbs and avoid cake and crumbs showing in your finished cake.

Step 8 - Take the cake out of the fridge and place on the Mondo Metal turntable. Cover the outside of the cake with a good thick layer of Buttercream, using your tall metal scrapper, spin your turn table to create a smooth outer surface - being careful not to scrap off too much Buttercream as to not expose the cake underneath. Using the side of your off-set spatula, clean off the top for a smooth clean finish.

Step 9 - Once your surface is smooth and the top is level, pop the topper into place, this will be your guide. Use the back of a butter knife to scribe a diagonal line as a guide starting from the topper to the top lip of the cake and then down the front. This will help with where to place the silver leaf

Step 10 - Open the pack of Over The Top Silver leaf, inside you will find 5 sheets - avoid touching the silver leaf with your fingers as it will set to your finger and not come off without wiping off. Touch small sections of the silver leaf to the cake, lightly press it into place following the guide you created for yourself. This will give the sugar crystals you place next a cool back drop and make them pop more. Try to keep the silver leaf to a maximum of an inch wide, if you want a wider gap for the geode then you can lay down a wider amount of silver leaf.

Step 14 - Next up take the chunky sugar crystals and crush with a rolling pin to get smaller pieces. Push them into the silver leaf trail - right in the middle. Have a bit of fun with different sizes for the middle of the line and smaller for the edges. Then add some larger chucks to the top and base of the topper, and some at the bottom of the line on the board, so it looks natural and like they just accidently fell there.

Step 15 - In a small container mix a little (for example, 1/4 teaspoon) of Over The Top Metallic Silver Petal dust in a few drop of Decorator Spirit or Vodka or Lemon essence.

Step 16 - Dip your pain brush into the mixture and lightly dot, dab and splash silver around the outer edges of the silver leaf to give the entire look a natural wider geode crack in the cake, without the need to cut out cake etc. I even lightly touched a few of the sugar crystals to make it look more real.

Step 17 - Then pop onto a pretty cake stand to finish!