My first two-tiered cake

As my first attempt at a two-tiered cake I made this for my best friend’s baby shower at the weekend.

It was chocolate cake – I used buttermilk and bicarbonate of soda for the first time in this one. And the recipe also had boiling water in it…very strange, but worked very well and they were the tallest cakes I’ve ever made.

There was a heck of a lot of butter cream between the 7 layers (there were meant to be 8 layers but the top cake was so tall I left one off!).

I am still not very good at getting the icing to go straight at the bottom – I always end up with creases, lumps and bumps. Also the cake is never perfectly smooth, as you’ll see when I put the lines on the bottom, they are a bit ‘in and out’!

I tried to cover up the creases at the bottom with thick stripes! Do other people do the same or are there other tricks for this!!?

I used colours to match the paper plates/napkins I’d bought for the shower – and turquoise is my best friend’s favourite colour so I just had to use this of course!

My friend loved the cake – as did the guests. It was maybe a bit too rich for the hottest day of the year so far in the UK!! I think strawberries and cream might have been a better option, but it was delicious nevertheless!

-- Leanne, Kent, http://www.leannecookingwiththefamily.wordpress.com