GIRLY NUMBER 9 CAKE RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180 C, 160 C fan, 350 F, gas 4.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar and butter with an electric whisk until light and fluffy.
• Gradually whisk in the eggs, then add a little of the flour mix and milk alternately until the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the liquid.
• Line a mini muffin tray with mini paper cases and fill each with a large teaspoon of the mixture. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until slightly golden on top. Remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. If you need to bake them in batches, the mixture will happily sit at room temperature.
• To make the cream cheese frosting, mix together the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl. Divide the mixture among the same number of small bowls as you want colours. Add a little of the colour or melted chocolate gradually until you achieve the shade you require.
• Decorate each cupcake with cream cheese frosting and sugar flowers. The easiest way to decorate is to use a small palette knife with a blob of frosting on it, spread it over the cupcake then gradually build it up.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 16x4x4.5-inch loaf pan with non-stick aluminum foil or grease with shortening and dust with flour.
• Make cake batter using two cake mixes, according to package instructions. Divide batter in 5 bowls. Color one bowl neon orange, one bowl yellow, pink, blue and green.
• Pour batter into disposable pastry bags or zip top bags. Drizzle colored cake batter, alternating colors into the pan until you use all the batter. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles.
• Bake for 70-80 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes, then remove and set cake on cooling rack and cool completely. Cut cake into 1-inch thick slices.
• Lay slices flat on a baking tray and place in the freezer for at least one hour. Cut numbers out of cake slices. Save cake scraps for another use, and place the number pieces back in the freezer.
• Clean and prepare the loaf pan as before. Make the remaining two cake mixes according to package instructions. Pour a thin layer of cake mix into the loaf pan. Pour remaining batter into an 18-inch pastry bag or a gallon-size zip top bag.
• Line the number 5s in a single row down the center of the pan, piping batter into the pan as needed to keep the number pieces straight.
• Pipe the remaining batter into the pan and on top of the numbers. (Be sure to mark which direction the numbers are facing and keep track of this while decorating, so you know which end of the cake to slice into and have forward-facing numbers.) Smooth the top of the batter and bake for 70-90 minutes, rotating pan 180° after 40 minutes, until a skewer or cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven and allow to cool 20 minutes before removing from pan. Let cake cool completely (this may take up to 2 hours) and cover with whipped frosting, making the surface as smooth as possible.
• Color fondant in a variety of neon colors. Roll individual pieces of the colored fondant into logs. Press the logs together. Twist and fold to create a marble effect. Press fondant pieces together.
• Roll out to a 24x15-inch rectangle.
• Cover cake with fondant.
• Create a border using a different color fondant.
• Serve the cake and slice into it, revealing the numbers.