When Royal Albert contacted us to say our cakes and treats were a perfect fit for their gorgeous range of tableware designed by Miranda Kerr obviously we were beyond flattered! The range manages to be luxurious yet fun and definitely on-trend (those pink peonies are a fashion favourite). Definitely something we aim to be with every sweet we create! With this in mind and to really make the most of those last few days of summer we’ve put together one super pretty cake you can re-create too! Cherries are available in late summer, but they always remind us both of Autumn too (hello fruity cherry conserves and cinnamon cherry strudels!). Adding in a good Madagascan vanilla along with a creamy white Belgian chocolate helps give this cake a wonderfully comforting feeling! To whip up this cake at home keep reading!
Love the stylish Royal Albert and Miranda Kerr ‘Gratitude’ cake stand and ‘Friendship’ tea plates we used to help show off our Royal Albert inspired cake? Follow the links to shop them! They’re so vibrant and beautiful. We’re huge fans of the large peonies, gold accents and pretty colour palette.
Cherry and white chocolate cake recipe!
Ingredients needed for the cake:
(this recipe makes approx. 3 x 8″ circle cakes)
- 453g self-raising flour
- 453g caster sugar
- 453g butter
- 8 medium to large eggs (453g in weight)
- 1 tablespoon Madagascan vanilla bean paste
- Large serrated bread knife or cake leveller
- Icing scraper
- 3 x 8 inch cake pans
- Butter to grease tins/pans
- Parchment paper
Step 01:
Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 3 / 140C (fan) / 160C (non-fan) / 325F. Butter and line your cake pans.
Step 02:
Cream together the butter and sugar in a good stand-up mixer. Don’t over mix as this adds air into your batter which can lead to a sunken mess.
Step 03:
Add in your flour and roughly mix this into the creamed butter and sugar. Again don’t over mix! Mixing too much once your flour has been added overstimulates the gluten which can make a rather dense and chewy textured cake. Not nice.
Step 04:
Now add in your eggs and Madagascan vanilla. Mix until incorporated. Then pour evenly between three 8″ cake pans! Bake each layer/pan for approximately 30 mins. Test your cake with a clean knife or cake tester. If it comes out clean your cake is ready! If not and batter sticks to the blade or tester bake for another 15 minutes checking again at the halfway mark!
If you want to bake all three layers at once place in your oven and bake for approximately 40-50 minutes. Remember to test your cakes. If they’re not ready bake for another 10-15 minutes and test each 5-7 minutes into your extra baking time!
Step 05:
When ready remove from the oven. Quickly and carefully turn out onto a clean surface to cool. We use chocolatier marble slabs to help our cakes cool down a little quicker.
Ingredients needed for the vanilla and white chocolate buttercream:
- 500g softened butter
- 250g sifted icing sugar (powdered or confectioner’s sugar in the US)
- 1 tablespoon Madagascan vanilla bean paste
- 100g White Belgian chocolate
- Spatula
- Pink gel food colour (we used Strawberry from Rainbow Dust’s Pro Gel range)
Step 01:
Cream the butter in a stand mixer. Scrape the butter back down to the bottom of the bowl using your spatula. Try not to mix the butter too much or this can lead to pesky air bubbles and an odd textured buttercream! It’s so tempting to just leave the mixer going while you prep other things, but don’t!
Step 02:
Add in your sifted icing sugar (also known as powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar in the US) and mix until incorporated. Remember not to over mix though!
Step 03:
Now add in your Madagascan vanilla bean paste along with your 100g of melted white chocolate and a little pink food colour. Mix together.
Tip! When it comes to adding in colour do this a little at a time. It’s so much easier to add more colour if needed then remove any once mixed in!
Ingredients and materials needed to fill and decorate your cherry and white chocolate cake:
- Cherry conserve
- Fresh cherries
- Pink candy melts by Wilton
- Fresh and washed pink roses in posy picks
- Trex or Crisco vegetable shortening
- Macarons, candy, homemade marshmallows or meringue kisses to decorate
- Cream puffs (if you’re feeling adventurous) - We have a Strawberry Milkshake cream puff recipe here. Just omit the strawberry essence from the whipped cream filling and add a tablespoon of blitzed cherry conserve into the double cream when whipping!
- Your go-to ganache drip recipe - we added our signature gold sequin drip to our cherry and white chocolate cake. To simplify this cake you can leave the drip out!
Step 01:
When cool your layers are ready to work with! You never want to sandwich with warm cake as it will begin to melt your fillings. Sloppy, warm buttercream or ganache is not a good look. With a large serrated knife level each layer. You can definitely use a cake leveller for this tip if you like. We make so many cakes that we’ve developed a knack for levelling cakes by eye!
Step 02:
Now it’s time to fill and sandwich your layers! Add a ring of your pink vanilla and white chocolate buttercream leave a circle in the centre for your cherry conserve. When ready spoon in your fruity filling. Carefully add your layer on top and repeat this entire step for the next layer. Once all three cakes have been sandwiched you can add your pretty pink buttercream!
Step 03:
For an on-trend semi-naked look smooth or pipe your pink buttercream around the sides and top randomly. Scrape and remove any excess using a good icing scraper. Place in your fridge to chill.
Step 04:
Yay! Now for the fun part! If you’re braving a ganache drip then now it the time to add it! Drips work best on a nice chilled cake. The coldness of the cake helps the chocolate to set quicker giving you much more control over it. You don’t want every drip to pool at the bottom of your cake board or stand. We added a white chocolate drip to ours studded with edible sequins and painted gold. That’s an entire tutorial altogether though!
Step 05:
For cute pink dipped cherries add approx. 100g pink candy melts to a microwave safe bowl and melt down. We heated ours set at 2 minutes and checked every 30 seconds until done. Add in around half a tablespoon of your vegetable shortening until a smooth molten texture. Now dip in your cherries and leave to set on some parchment paper!
Step 06:
To decorate add in your pretty pink roses first. These are your focal decorative items and your largest so it helps to map out your design with these. Our roses have been washed, cut down, then inserted into posy picks before added to our cake.
Step 07:
Then you can add whatever other sweets and treats you have to your cake! We added pink candy melt dipped cherries, cherry cream puffs, and pretty macarons to ours!
To really add the wow factor to this cherry and white chocolate cake why not treat yourself to something sweet from Royal Albert and Miranda Kerr’s collection!
