Strawberry Drip Cake
A light four-layer vanilla sponge cake with strawberry buttercream and a dark chocolate ganache drip. This beautiful drip cake is perfect for any occasion.
Ingredients
Vanilla Layer Cake
- 225 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 225 g caster sugar
- 225 g self raising flour sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp whole milk
Strawberry Buttercream
- 230 g unsalted butter
- 500 g icing sugar
- 50 ml whole milk
- .5 tsp vanilla extract
- 12 g freeze-dried strawberries
Dark Chocolate Ganache Drip
- 75 g 70% cocoa chocolate
- 75 ml double cream
Decoration
- sprinkles
- 10 strawberries
Instructions
Vanilla Layer Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC / 160ºC Fan / Gas 4 / 350ºF. Prepare the baking tins by spraying them with cake release or line them with greaseproof paper.
- In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using an electric handheld whisk. Mix until pale and smooth.
- Add the eggs to the creamed butter one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and baking powder to the bowl and beat slowly, mixing until no white streaks of flour are visible. Take care not to overmix.
- Add the vanilla extract and milk and fold into the mixture using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
- Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in the tins to cool.
Strawberry Buttercream
- Add the room temperature butter to a stand mixer (or use a large bowl and handheld electric whisk) and beat for a couple of minutes until pale yellow and creamy. Next, add in the icing sugar half a cup at a time.
- Once you’ve added all the icing sugar, pour in the vanilla and milk and continue to beat until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Meanwhile, blitz the freeze-dried strawberries to a powder. You can do this using a pestle and mortar, a food processor or coffee grinder. Grind until you have a very fine powder.
- Add the freeze-dried strawberry powder to the buttercream and mix thoroughly.
Stacking and Assembly
- Turn the cakes out of the tins and place one of the sponges on to a cake stand or turntable. You can use a few dots of buttercream to 'glue' it down and stop it from moving.
- Transfer a quarter of the buttercream to a piping bag with a large open tip fitted (or don't use a nozzle and snip the end of the bag off). Pipe a circle of buttercream around the outer edge of the cake then fill the hole in the middle with 2-3 tablespoons of jam.
- Pipe more buttercream on top of the jam and use a palette knife to smooth it out. Repeat for the remaining layers.
- Pile half of the remaining buttercream on top of the stacked cakes and use a palette knife to spread it across the top and down the sides of the cake. Use a cake smoother or palette knife to smooth out the buttercream.
Chocolate Ganache Drip
- Chop the chocolate finely and put it into a heatproof bowl. Add the cream to a small saucepan set over a medium heat. Remove the cream from the heat just before it comes to the boil then pour it over the chopped chocolate.
- Let the chocolate and cream sit for a few minutes then mix vigorously until you have a glossy, smooth and pourable ganache. Leave the ganache to cool for a few minutes.
Adding The Drip
- Using a spoon, drip chocolate ganache off the top of the cake making your way around in a circle until your drip is complete.
To Decorate
- Press sprinkles into the bottom of the cake. Add the remaining buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a large open star nozzle and pipe large swirls on top of the chocolate ganache. Place a fresh strawberry on top of each swirl.