Ombre cake

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas mark 4).

2. Cream together the butter and sugar for the sponge until light and fluffy.  

3. Next add in your (beaten) eggs and incorporate.

4. Lastly sift the flour in and mix together gently. Add a splash of milk to loosen the mixture if it's too stiff, it should pour, but very slowly.

5. Now divide the mix into 4 equal portions. Keep one aside for the palest layer then add food colouring to the remaining three, to create a slightly more intense colour in each. The strength of colour is up to you, just go slowly, a little food colouring goes a long way.

6. Place each colour mixture into a separate 20cm cake tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden on top. To test if they are ready, insert a skewer and ensure it comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

7. While your cakes are cooling, mix your frosting. Start with the butter in cubes, at room temperature and mix it  to become smooth. Add the icing sugar bit by bit add a splash of milk to loosen it as required.

8. Sandwich each layer together with a dollop of frosting, spread out to a couple of millimetres thickness. If your cakes are particularly 'dome shaped' on top you might want to slice them off to make them flatter and stack better.

9. Next use your remaining frosting to ice the sides of the cake using a palette knife to press it into the cake as you spread in one motion. Pay particular attention to filling in the gaps between each layer at the edges.

10. Finish with the top by spreading icing over the top then decorate your cake as desired.