Make your own wedding cake!

Here’s one for the bride who likes the simple things in life. 

I’ll not prattle on about how much I want a small intimate wedding or how much I love D.I.Y. (I love D.I.Y. by the way) instead I’ll just share this recipe with you.  This is an adaptation of my Mother’s chocolate cake recipe, I wanted the icing to be white and include fruit so there are a few tweaks here and there.  I’m picturing this cake at a smaller, intimate wedding.  You could make several tiers with a different fruit in each or have a deconstructed wedding cake with the different tiers on pretty cake stands.

White Chocolate and Raspberry Cake

(If you can’t get 10” tins you could use 3 № 5” tins and make a higher smaller cake. 2 № 8” round baking tins will be too much mixture for the tins.)

INGREDIENTS

Cake

10 oz butter

14 oz caster sugar

12 oz self raising flour (or plain flour with 3 tsp baking powder)

1 bar of quality white chocolate

1 tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp salt

1 cup single cream

4 eggs

1 punnet of raspberries

Icing

8 oz butter

10 oz icing sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

2 eggs

2 bars of quality white chocolate

(5 tbsp of chocolate powder would give you a rich, milk chocolate cake)

METHOD

Cake

Heat the oven to 190°C, 375°F or Gas mark 4. Prepare your cake tins.

Beat together the butter, sugar, vanilla essence and salt till the mixture is light and creamy.

Beat the eggs and add to the cup of cream, then add to the butter and sugar mix alternately with the flour ensuring that some flour is kept to add in last. This stops the mix curdling which can happen because of the high volume of liquid being added to the mix; mix until well blended and smooth.  

Add the raspberries to the mix (keep a few back for decoration).

Turn the mix into the greased lined cake tins and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven.

Once baked leave to cool completely before icing.

Icing

Cream the butter and the egg together until completely blended, giving a whipped cream appearance.

Add the vanilla essence and icing sugar, blending together till the mixture is smooth and spreadable.

Break up the chocolate and place in a microwavable bowl then heat in the microwave for 45 seconds.  If not all the chocolate has melted then put back in for ten seconds at a time till all the lumps are gone.

Mix the melted chocolate to the rest of the icing mix then spread on top of the cake.  Don’t worry if it looks rough, it adds to the cake's charm.

Top with the raspberries and voila!  A cute, home-made wedding cake!

P.S.  Why not use any scraps of cakes to make a delicious cake in a cup!  Left over icing and a raspberry are the finishing touches.