How to decorate rich butter cake

Find out how to decorate a cake just like the professionals. Cake Decorators Guild of NSW member Narelle Waldock shares her tips.

The rich butter cake is covered with icing and then decorated with flowers also made from icing.

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Rich butter cake

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour, ½ cup custard powder, 2 cups castor sugar, 1 cup milk, 4 eggs lightly beaten, 250g butter softened, 2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method:

Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Combine sifted flour and custard powder with remaining ingredients in a large

bowl of electric mixer.

Beat on medium speed for about 10 minutes. Pour mixture into prepared cake tin.

Bake in moderate oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked when tested.

Let stand for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire cake rack to cool. The cake is suitable to freeze.

Frost the cake with a butter cream icing. Alternatively, cover the cake with Bakels Petinice Ready To Roll Icing, which is available at decorating shops.

Then, decorate with simple flowers and serve.

A SKILLED cake decorator, Camden’s Narelle Waldock is keen to share her craft with the community.

Mrs Waldock, 51, of Camden, has baked a rich butter cake and suggests beginners can frost it with a butter cream icing.

For the more adventurous, the Cake Decorators Guild of NSW member suggests people cover it with Bakels Petinice Ready To Roll Icing, which is available at decorating shops, and then decorate it with simple flowers.

“To cover the cake, firstly cut the dome top off the cake and turn the cake upside down so you have a flat surface to cover,’’ she said.

Camden resident and Cake Decorators Guild of NSW member Narelle Waldock shows how to decorate a rich butter cake.

People can sign up for a workshop when the guild hosts a show in Campbelltown from Thursday, August 25.

Next, knead the Petinice until pliable on a work surface lightly dusted with icing sugar.

Roll out the Petinice to 5mm thick and 3cm wider than the diameter of the cake. Move the Petinice often to prevent sticking.

Carefully lift the Petinice and lay it over the top of your cake.

Using clean and dry hands, gently smooth down around the surface, remove any folds or wrinkles in the Petinice.

Once the icing is smooth, trim off the excess icing with a small sharp knife.

“I made little sausages to create the stem of the flower using coloured Petinice,’’ she said.

To make the flowers roll coloured Petinice very thinly and cut using flower cutters.

Attach to your cake with a small amount of water. Cut a smaller flower and attach to the centre of the larger flower. Glue a coloured cachous ball to the centre of the flower.

Mrs Waldock said she found the butter cake recipe in the Australian Women’s Weekly in May 1990.

“I baked this cake recipe for both of my children’s birthday cakes many times,’’ she said.

“It’s a very easy cake to make.’’

■ The Cake Decorators’ Guild of NSW will host a show at Campbelltown Catholic Club from Thursday, August 25, to Sunday, August 28. Cake decorating workshops will be on offer and bookings are essential. Phone: [phone].