Technique Focus

Don’t let a tiered cake intimidate you, give Britt Box’s tips a try and you’ll master them in no time! (www.shewhobakes.co.uk)

How to create…

Knowing how to successfully make a tiered cake is a very useful skill in a baker’s arsenal. They are the basis for most wedding cakes and can really make birthday cakes feel extra special. I really like making smaller tiered cakes such as this one, which feed the same amount of people as a larger single-tiered cake.

There are a few very important elements to creating a stable tiered cake, one of which is the cake itself. You need to choose a strong and reliable recipe. I recommend a Madeira cake as they are slightly denser than their Victoria sponge cousin, plus they stack really well, when put together with the rest of my tips.

MAKING THE CAKES

For this tiered cake, I used an 18cm (7in) round and a 12.5cm (5in) round Madeira. I made one big mix, then divided it between the tins. Here is the recipe I used;

FOR THE MADEIRA CAKES

• 350g (12oz) self-raising flour

• 350g (12oz) caster sugar

• 350g (12oz) unsalted butter/Stork

• 90g (3oz) plain flour

• 6 free-range eggs

• 1½ tsp extract (I used lemon)

1 Cream together the Stork/unsalted butter and caster sugar.

2 Mix in the eggs, then add the self-raising flour and plain flour and mix well.

3 Add the extract and mix for 2-3 minutes on a high speed, then spoon the mixture into lined 18cm (7in) and 12.5cm (5in) round cake tins, until they are both three-quarters full.