Sunset /Ombre Cake

Right, next cake!

I used the basic cake from Recipetineats because it is just so easy! (Although not in my mother's kitchen... It doesn't like her kitchen. But my kitchen? No worries!). The cake ended up being 3 layers but about the same height as if I did 2.

The main attraction of this cake is the decoration.

As usual I started with the crumb layer (which seals the crumbs and stops them ruining the pretty outer layer). When I make icing I don't bother with measuring the ingredients, but it was just over 250g of room temperature unsalted butter, maybe 3ish cups of icing mix, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons of milk. The milk was just to help the icing spread a bit nicer. I was a little worried the icing wouldn't set properly because of the milk, but it still set beautifully. Probably helps that it's winter right now!

So many videos about cake decorating use piping bags to put the icing on the cake, but unless it is important for precision this is just another step (I use reusable bags so it also means more washing!).

To do the ombre effect, I used a spatula to spread about half the cake with pink icing and half with yellow.

Then I smoothed it to help spread the icing. Using an offset spatula I made a zigzag between the 2 layers. Could probably use a spoon or similar too. Then smooth again, fill in the gaps, smooth again. Ice the top as normal and that's it! Really easy, but super effective.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/be8f9a_de6fe6add0a844d8bebd645e6d5b6127/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Using the left over icing I made the braid on the top. To get the pink on the tips and yellow in the middle, just spread the pink icing around the edges of the bag and dollop the yellow in. It'll take a bit to push through the excess pink, but it's a cool effect once you get it.