Rhubarb, Honey & Vanilla Cake in Partnership with The Happy Egg Co.

Welcome to our third cake, recipe and cake decorating tutorial in partnership with The Happy Egg Co.! In our development post we blogged about creating a traditional cake which would fit right in at picnics or at summer fetes. To recreate that sense of tradition we chose a layer cake filled with our rhubarb and honey curd decorating it with lashings of vanilla pod infused buttercream. To add a textured, homemade finish we ensured the buttercream was rugged and imperfect by spreading it on in layers resulting in a fun, quick and easy cake. After the following images you’ll find the recipe and a tutorial on how to make this cake and the decorative bunting. Why not try it for yourself?

Cake and buttercream recipe

To create this cake (a 9 inch circle) you will need the following…

7-8 free range eggs by The Happy Egg Co. depending on egg size
453g self raising flour
453g caster sugar
453g butter

For the buttercream you will need…

453g butter (don’t use margarine as the water content is higher and not suitable for buttercream)
453g - 553g icing sugar (choose your own consistency and taste)
3 vanilla pods

Rhubarb, honey and vanilla curd recipe

400g rhubarb cut into pieces
60g granulated sugar
60g butter
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoons of honey
2 vanilla pods
Airtight jar

To make the cake cream your butter in a mixer then add the caster sugar. Add in the flour along with half of the happy eggs for around one minute. Once half of the happy eggs are combined add the remaining and mix for about 5 minutes.

Pour each colour into separate greased cake pans and place on the top shelf of a pre-heated oven at Gas Mark 3/325F/170C. Bake for around 30 minutes.

Leave to cool and in the meantime prepare your buttercream.

For the buttercream add half of the 1lb of butter diced into pieces. Cream the butter in a mixer. Then gradually add icing sugar and the remaining butter (cut into cubes). Once the buttercream is of a smooth consistency add some the inside of your vanilla pods and mix well.

Now to make the rhubarb, honey and vanilla curd filling! Boil all 400g of rhubarb in a saucepan of water stirring every so often with a wooden spoon. When the rhubarb is ‘mushy’ pour into a colander to remove the water. Lower the heat on the stove to half of what you used to get to boiling point. Pour the rhubarb back into the pan and add the sugar. Stir gently until the sugar is dissolved then add the two tablespoons of honey. Stir again until well mixed then add the insides of your two vanilla pods. Now add the butter and stir until melted.

In a separate bowl beat your egg yolks well. Pour these slowly into your rhubarb mix and keep stirring the yolks in gently. Keep mixing and checking the curd by scooping the back of your wooden spoon into the curd; when the curd coats the back of your spoon thickly then it is ready to pour into a jar and set.

Buttercream technique

The great thing about working with buttercream is that it is easy to change, sculpt and even scrap off and start again. Another selling point to butercream icing your cakes is that it doesn’t matter if it is perfect; buttercream is messy and evokes a rustic charm. The fact that buttercream creates a lovely homemade look is perfect for this cake inspired by traditional flavours!

A very simple and effective buttercream technique to use is to create a pinwheel look on the top of your frosted cake. Once you’ve iced your cake smoothly take a small spatula and using only its tip begin in the centre of the top of your cake. You want to quickly (and not too heavily) drag the end of your spatula from the centre to the edge of your cake. Keep doing this around the cake and you should be left with the below effect! Once finished the edges will just need a quick tidy with your spatula.

How to make the edible bunting

To make your edible sugarpaste bunting you will need…

Sugarpaste coloured in three or more colours (we coloured ours with Wilton’s Juniper Green, Wilton’s Rose Pink and Sugarflair’s Dusky Rose)
A good straight edged knife or pizza cutter
A quilting or stitching tool (optional)
Icing sugar to dust the surfaces with
Fondant rolling pin

Step one: Dust the surface with icing sugar and begin to roll out your chosen fondant. Cut it into an oblong shape and put any excess sugarpaste to one side. The size and length of the oblong will depend on how large you would like your bunting to be.

Step two: With a knife or pizza cutter begin cutting out triangular shapes at your required size. See the images for the technique we used and repeat with all of your fondant using your first piece of bunting as a template.

Step three: Now you have your bunting use the quilting tool to add traditional stitching detail to your bunting.

Step four: If the buttercream on your cake is still soft simply stick the pieces of bunting in place.