Skittle Piñata Cake

 

This cake was a creation made for someone very special's birthday. Seeing as she absolutely loves skittles (and just sweets in general) it seemed fitting to bake a cake that was filled with them. To meet their tastes in cake, it was sandwiched with jam and coated in rolled icing instead of the usual buttercream. This made it rather sweet, but prevented it from being too rich and sickly. The sponge inside was my usual recipe but turned out very moist and absolutely delicious! The sponges did turn out to be thinner than intended, however it made the cake a good shape for icing and a full bag of skittles still fitted in the centre! This is definitely a cake for sweet lovers, and can be filled with whatever sweets or chocolate that takes your fancy. 

Recipe - Makes a 7inch cake

For the sponge:

• 140ml dairy free milk
• 2 tsp white vinegar
• 180g margarine
• 180g caster sugar
• 3 lemons, zested
• 240g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Juice 1 lemon

For the filling and decoration:

• 1/3 jar strawberry jam
• 700g ready roll icing
• 1 bag skittles
• Red, yellow, green, orange and purple food colouring

Before making the sponge, grease and line 2x 7inch loose bottomed cake tins. Preheat the oven to 170C. Put the vinegar in the milk and stir. Set aside until needed. Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the lemon zest. Gradually whisk in the milk mixture, then fold in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Divide between the lined tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Once baked, remove from the oven and leave for about 5 minutes to cool in the tin before transferring to a wire rack. Leave to cool then slice each sponge carefully in half horizontally to form 4 layers. Drizzle lemon juice on each. 

To start constructing the cake, take one of the sponge layers and place on a plate. Top with jam, but leave a section in the centre 8cm in diameter without jam. Place another layer on top and do the same. Repeat with the third later then use an 8cm round cutter to remove the centre of the top two sponge layers. Take some of the ready roll icing and line the hole with a thin layer of icing. Fill with skittles then top with a layer of icing. Add the final sponge layer. 

Finish the cake by firstly taking about 500g of the ready roll icing and rolling out to a round large enough to cover the cake. Gently lift on top and press gently down the sides. Trim to neaten. Divide the rest of the icing into five equal sized pieces and colour each. Roll out and cut small and medium sized circles. Place randomly on the top of the cake to decorate.