Recipe Box: Surprise Number Cake

I don’t actually like rock, but it has always fascinated me that they are able to get words running through the entire length like that. I actually watched a program all about the process and I am still not entirely sure how it works. When I saw that you can make a cake using the same idea I knew I had to try it. It wasn’t going to be easy but it was worth a try!

I do it to myself every year, twice a year now with two kids, and each time I say I won’t do it again. But the next birthday rolls around and I see a cake that I want to try and make. One day I will just admit that I find it all a bit stressful and buy a Peppa Pig cake from Tesco. But for now, here is how I made her number 2 cake…

First of all you need to work out how much cake mix you will need. I bought this 30cm loaf tin and an 8oz mixture was fine.

8oz butter

8oz sugar

4 egss

8 oz self raising flour

Mix it up as you would a normal cake, add vanilla essence if you wish.

Now is the fun part (the bit I may have got a little carried away). Add in the food colouring and swirl it around in the mixture. I should admit now that I was going for a rainbow cake but possibly added far too much green colouring. But hey ho, lesson learned!

Bake in the oven for longer than you would do normally if using the same tin as me, the shiny metal reflects heat and so it needs a good 40- 45 minutes on 190ºC for a fan oven.

Once the cake has cooled you need to slice your cake to the same width as you number cutter (I used the Jumbo Number Cookie Cutter Set– you want it to be big enough for the tin), then take each slice and cut the number or whatever shape it is you are wanting to run through the middle. Place them all on a tray and put in the freezer. I left mine over night but if you start the process early enough in the day you could leave them for a few hours and come back to them for part two.

The next stage is to make a second cake mixture, exactly the same as before but without the food colouring (unless you fancy a contrasting colour). Once you have your mixture at the ready you need to take your numbers from the freezer and place them in the tin. The reason for freezing them is so they do not cook any further once the other mixture is placed over the top.

Now you just need to scoop the second mixture evenly around the numbers making sure they stay in their central position. Then place in the oven once again for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

I could have decorated it a little more creatively but my creative juices were completely spent after doing the cake within a cake. Buttercream icing was all I could muster!

Having never made this cake before I was a little nervous about cutting it open, but I was so pleased with the final result – and it tasted delicious too!

Everyone was really impressed and even though I tried to explain the process they still thought it was some sort of magic!

Have you ever made a cake like this? 

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.co.uk.