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Carrot Cake Cheesecake from Sainsbury’s Magazine

Ingredients:

For the carrot cake:

150g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground mixed spice

125g light brown sugar

125ml vegetable oil

2 large eggs

150g coarsely grated carrots (about 2 carrots)

Zest of 1 orange

(I omitted the nuts but you can add 50g each of chopped walnuts and pecans if you want)

For the cheesecake:

400g full fat soft cheese (Philadelphia)

100g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla bean paste of extract

2 large eggs

3tbsp cornflour

100g soured cream

(You can also add cream cheese frosting/icing for which you can find instructions on the website linked above)

Method:

Prep all ingredients. (because i have a habit of forgetting stuff!)

Preheat the oven to 180C, fan 160C, or gas 4.

Grease and line a 20cm diameter springform cake tin.

For the carrot cake layer, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb, spices and sugar together with a pinch of salt.

Whisk the oil and eggs together in a jug then add to the dry ingredients.

Whisk everything until well combined, then fold through the grated carrots and orange zest. Set aside.

To make the cheesecake layer, stir together the soft cheese, caster sugar and vanilla.

Add the eggs and cornflour and stir to combine, taking care not to overmix or the mixture will become runny. (I am unsure what it means by this as the mixture will always be runny, no amount of mixing changes this)

Finally, fold in the soured cream.

Pour the carrot cake mix into the tin followed by the cheesecake layer.

Place on a baking tray and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until the mixture is set but still has a bit of a wobble in the middle.

Remove from the oven, leave to cool completely in the tin, then chill in the fridge for at least 5 hours, preferably overnight.

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behold: the ugliest cake i have ever made!

it’s a Brothers toffee apple cider cake, like i’ve made several times before, but this time i made two cakes and cut them in half to make four layers

i wanted to make it Halloween themed with black and orange marbling in the cake itself (which turned out okay!) and black and orange buttercream covering it - though as you can see, it turned out to all be grey instead

also discovered that vegan marshmallows don’t like doing the spiderweb thing, hence there only being two strands

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For the Great British Bake Off final i made one of my favourites, the Brothers Cider toffee apple cider cake

And that’s the end of my GBBO bake along! I’m happy i was able to do something every week

Next is the Brother’s toffee apple cider cake. The first (and frankly better) attempt was in Nov 2018 and the second (melty) attempt was in Nov 2019.

Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider Cake - from Brother’s Cider

Ingredients:

For the Cake 200ml Brothers Toffee Apple 375g Softened Butter 500g Soft Brown Sugar 8 Eggs 575g Plain Flour 4 tsp Baking Powder 200ml Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider 3 Bramley Apples 1 jar caramel sauce 3 Toffee Apples For the Icing 575g Icing Sugar 200g Softened unsalted butter 75ml Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider

Method:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 160C fan, grease and line 3 x 22cm/8” cake tins. 2. Peel and chop the apples into 3cm chunks, sprinkle with some of the soft brown sugar and set to one side. 3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy 4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in-between each. 5. Add the flour, baking powder, apple chunks then fold to combine. Mix in the cider. 6. Divide between the three tins and bake for around 1hr 10 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. 7. Leave in the tins to cool for at least 20 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. 8. To make the buttercream beat the butter until very soft then gradually add the icing sugar. Once the icing sugar and butter is combined mix in the cider. 9. Once the cake layers have completely cooled, decorate with the buttercream, caramel sauce and sliced apple - both between each layer and on top.

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For the GBBO semi-final i made a rum baba

Rum Baba - from BBC Food

Ingredients:

For the baba 220g strong flour 1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast ½ tsp salt 50g sugar, plus extra for lining tins 2 medium eggs 70ml/4½ tbsp milk 100g butter, softened For the syrup 250g caster sugar 3-4 tbsp dark rum For the chantilly cream 250ml double cream 100g icing sugar 1 vanilla pod, seeds only

Method: 1. Place the flour in a large bowl. Place the yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the other side. (Make sure the salt is not placed on top of the yeast, as it can kill it, making it inactive). Add the sugar and stir everything together with a spoon until evenly mixed. 2. Mix together the milk and eggs until well combined. 3. Add three-quarters of the combined eggs and milk to the flour and stir to combine. 4. Mix in the rest of the liquid and knead the dough on a worktop until it’s smooth and glossy, this will take approximately 10 minutes. 5. Add in the softened butter and work it through the dough thoroughly until it’s silky and stretchy. This should take approximately six minutes. 6. Place the dough back into a bowl and cover with cling film. Set the dough aside to rise for at least an hour, until doubled in size. 7. Grease and sugar the four 11cm/4½in fluted rum baba tins (savarin moulds). (Adding the sugar will help the fragile sponges come out of the moulds). 8. Turn the dough out of the bowl, and knock it back by kneading it a few times. 9. Place the dough into a piping bag with a large plain nozzle. Pipe the dough into the four moulds. Try and get them all as equal as possible. 10. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 11. Allow to prove for a second time until the dough has expanded almost to the top. Be careful not to over-prove at this stage, or you will get a muffin top around the edges. 12. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. 13. Meanwhile for the syrup, put the sugar and rum in a small saucepan with 200ml/7fl oz water and bring to a rolling boil. 14. When the babas are cooked, take them out of the oven and allow to cool a little before carefully removing the cakes from their tins. They will be very fragile. 15. Place the babas onto a dish and pour over half the syrup. Allow them to soak up all of the liquid; then turn them over and repeat with the rest of the liquid. Transfer to the fridge to chill. 16. Meanwhile for the Chantilly cream, whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla seeds. The cream must be firm enough to pipe and hold its shape on top of the babas. Transfer the cream to a piping bag and keep in the fridge until needed. Prepare the fruit as necessary. 17. To serve, pipe the Chantilly cream, using a star nozzle, into the middle of the babas. Garnish with the mixed fruit.

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Week 8 of GBBO was dessert week so i made a toffee apple cheesecake! The toffee is an odd colour but it tastes good!

Toffee Apple Cheesecake - from Olive Magazine

Ingredients:

For the base 75g butter, melted 200g ginger biscuits For the cake 6 apples 600g soft cheese 100ml double cream 150g caster sugar 50g plain flour A few drops of vanilla extract For the toffee sauce 300ml double cream 100g soft light brown sugar 75g butter A few drops of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Butter a 23cm springform cake tin and line with baking paper. 2. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until fine and tip into a bowl, then mix in the melted butter. 3. Spread the biscuit mix onto the bottom of the tin, using the back of a spoon to flatten it out into an even layer. 4. Chill while you make the filling and heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. 5. Peel, core and finely chop two of the apples. 6. Whisk together the soft cheese, cream, caster sugar, flour and vanilla, then stir in the chopped apple. 7. Pour the mixture over the biscuit base and bake for 30-40 minutes, after which the centre of the cheesecake should have a uniform wobble when gently shaken. 8. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven until it has cooled completely. 9. To make the toffee, melt the cream, sugar, butter, vanilla and a pinch of salt together in a pan. 10. Bring to a low bubble and keep stirring until the liquid is a thick, golden toffee colour. 11. Spoon a thin layer of toffee onto the cheesecake. 12. Core, slice and arrange the remaining 4 apples on top. 13. Use a pastry brush to thinly coat the apple slices with toffee (this will create a seal and stop them going brown). 14. Drizzle over the remaining toffee before serving.

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For GBBO 80s week i made a black forest gateau! They were popular in the 80s, right?

Black Forest Gateau - from BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

For the cakes 175g salted butter, plus extra for greasing 200g bar dark chocolate 300g plain flour 375g golden caster sugar 25g cocoa 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 2 medium eggs 200g buttermilk or natural yoghurt (i used yoghurt) To assemble 425g can pitted cherry, 2 tbsp juice reserved, rest drained 100g morello cherry jam 4 tbsp kirsch (or more juice from a can if you want it to be non-alcoholic) 500ml tub double cream 3 tbsp icing sugar 1 small punnet fresh cherries (optional) (I got a larger can of cherries as finding jam and kirsch during these times is a difficult task - to make the jam, just heat the cherries and juice in a small pan with a fair amount of sugar until it condenses, then blitz to form a jammy consistency)

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line the base of 3 x 20cm cake tins (my tins were larger so the cakes were thinner). Boil the kettle. 2. Put the butter and 75g chocolate broken into chunks in a small pan and gently heat, stirring, until completely melted. 3. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda with a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. 4. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk or yogurt together. 5. Scrape the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, add 100ml boiling water and whizz briefly with an electric whisk until the cake batter is lump free. 6. Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 25 mins, swapping the tins round after 20 mins if they’re on different shelves. To test they're done, push in a skewer and check that it comes out clean. 7. Prick the cakes a few times with a skewer. Mix together the 2 tbsp reserved cherry juice and the kirsch (or more juice) and drizzle over the cakes. Cool the cakes. 8. Mix together the remaining drained cherries and jam. 9. Tip 200ml of the cream into a small pan and heat until just below simmering point. 10. Chop the remaining chocolate and put in a heatproof bowl, pour over the hot cream and stir until melted. Set aside until spreadable. 11. When the cakes are cool whisk the remaining cream and the icing sugar together until softly whipped. 12. Spread over two of the cakes, then spoon over the jammy cherries. 13. Stack the cakes together. 14. Spread the chocolate cream over the third cake and sit on top of the other cakes. 15. Pile the fresh cherries in and around the cake and serve.

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For GBBO Japanese week i made a Japanese jiggly cheesecake! So... many... EGGS!

Japanese Jiggly Cheesecake - from Tasty (I added a tsp of vanilla essence and 5g of matcha for a little extra flavour - 5g of matcha didn't taste of much so if you're adding it, try 10g)

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter 100g cream cheese 130ml whole milk 8 egg yolks 60g plain flour 60g cornstarch 13 large egg whites 130g granulated sugar Powdered sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C). 2. In a small pot over medium heat, whisk together the butter, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla extract until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and let cool. 3. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth, then slowly drizzle in the cream cheese mixture, stirring until evenly combined. 4. Sift in the flour and the cornstarch, whisking to make sure there are no lumps. 5. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar while continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. 6. Fold about ¼ of the egg whites and into the yolk mixture, then repeat with the remaining egg whites until the batter is evenly combined. 7. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 3-inch (23 x 7.5 cm) round cake pan, then line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. If using a springform pan, make sure to wrap the bottom and sides completely in foil twice to prevent any leakage. 8. Pour the batter into the pan and shake to release any large air bubbles. 9. Place the pan into a larger baking dish lined with 2 paper towels at the bottom. The paper towels ensure that the heat is distributed evenly along the bottom of the pan. Fill the larger pan about 1-inch (2-cm) high with hot water. 10. Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 285°F (140°C), and bake for another 55 minutes, until the cake has risen to almost double its original height. 11. Remove from oven, and carefully invert the cake onto your dominant hand and peel off the paper. Be extremely careful, the cake will be hot. You can also invert the cake onto a plate, but this will cause the cake to deflate more. 12. Dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar, then slice and serve with strawberries and cream while still warm!

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For GBBO pastry week i made a pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Pie - from Tesco Real Food

Ingredients:

For the pastry 200g plain flour 1 tsp ground cinnamon 125g butter 2 tbsp icing sugar For the filling 180g (6oz) caster sugar 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground ginger ½ tsp mixed spice 3 eggs 1 x 425g can solid pack pumpkin or 450g diced pumpkin, cooked and sieved 200ml double cream

Method:

1. To make the pastry, mix together the flour and the cinnamon, if using. Rub in the butter and stir in the icing sugar. Add enough water (about 7 tsp) to mix to a stiff dough. 2. Roll out the pastry until it is large enough to line a 23cm x 23cm x 5cm deep pie dish. Pinch the edge of the pastry. 3. Chill for 15 minutes and preheat the oven to gas 7, 220°C, fan 200°C. 4. Line the pastry with foil and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes. 5. Reduce the oven temperature to gas 3, 150°C, fan 130°C. 6. To make the filling, put the pumpkin and all other filling ingredients in a bowl and mix well. 7. Pour into the pastry case and bake in the oven for about 1 hour until the filling is set. Remove and leave to cool.

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Chocolate babka for GBBO's chocolate week! This was by far the most complex thing i’ve made to date so i'm pretty proud of how well it came out!

Chocolate Babka - from GBBO (for some unknown reason, the recipe was taken down so thank goodness i saved it when i did!)

Ingredients:

For the filling 100g unsalted butter 150g caster sugar 80g 70% dark chocolate, chopped 40g cocoa powder For the dough 275g plain flour 5g fast-action dried yeast 25g caster sugar 1/2 tsp fine salt 2 eggs, beaten 50ml whole milk 80g unsalted butter, cubed and softened For the syrup 100g caster sugar 100ml water

Method:

1. For the filling, place the butter, sugar and chocolate in a pan and melt very slowly over a low heat, stirring until smooth and combined. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool and thicken slightly. 2. Meanwhile, make the dough: tip the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the sugar and salt to the other side. 3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs and milk, then mix on slow speed for 2–3 minutes, until firm. 4. Increase the speed to medium and add the butter, a little at a time. Mix well between each addition, allowing the butter to incorporate before adding more. 5. Once you have added all the butter, continue kneading with the dough hook on medium speed through the sticky stage, until you have a ball of smooth, silky, shiny dough. 6. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a 40 x 30cm rectangle, with a long edge closest to you. 7. Spread the cooled chocolate mixture over the dough, leaving a 1cm border all around. 8. Trim about 2cm off each end to neaten, then turn the roll through 90° clockwise so that a short end is closest to you. Using a large, sharp knife or a pizza cutter, slice lengthways, down through the middle of the dough, cutting it into 2 long pieces. With the cut-sides facing upwards, gently press the top end of each half together to seal, then lift the right half over the left half, followed by the left half over the right half. Repeat, twisting the dough to make a two-stranded plait, then gently press the bottom ends together to seal. 9. Carefully lift the loaf into the lined tin and cover with a clean tea towel (or place in a proving bag, if you have one). Leave at room temperature for about 2 hours (or in a proving drawer for 1 hour), until doubled in size. 10. Fifteen minutes before the end of the proving time, heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas 5. 11. When the babka has proved, bake it for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/150°C fan/Gas 3 and cook for a further 25–30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 12. While the babka is baking, make the syrup. Tip the sugar and 100ml water into a small pan, bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes, until syrupy. Leave to cool. 13. When the babka is ready, transfer it in the tin to a wire rack. Brush the cooled syrup over the hot babka, then leave in the tin until cool enough to handle. Turn out onto the wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

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Garlic soda bread for GBBO's bread week! I know it's technically chocolate week as i'm posting this, but it's better late than never!

Roasted Garlic Soda Bread - from BBC Food

(I used skimmed milk with a splash of lemon juice in lieu of buttermilk because we couldn't find any. Crazy times!)

Ingredients:

170g self-raising flour 170g plain flour 2tsp salt 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 290ml buttermilk 1 head of roasted garlic

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. 2. Tip the flours, salt and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl and stir. 3. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large fork to form a soft dough. 4. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. 5. Form into a round and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet. 6. Poke evenly spaced holes in the dough to push the roasted garlic cloves in. 7. Bale for about 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. 8. Cool on a wire rack.

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Here’s the latest batch of Dan and Phil’s pumpkin spice cookies!

My friend Nicole and i made them on Saturday for biscuit week of GBBO, but i forgot to post the photos until now - whoops!

Also we decided that 1tsp of ground cloves is probably a bit too much so anyone wanting to make these would probably be better off with 1/2tsp instead

I’m a big fan of Dan and Phil and I love their Halloween baking videos (please come back and do them soon!) so of course I had to try their pumpkin spice cookies. These photos are of my mum’s and my creations from Sep 2019. I am planning on making more at some point this year!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies - Dan and Phil

Ingredients:

300g Plain Flour 1/2tsp Baking Powder 1tsp Ground Cloves 1tsp Ground Cinnamon 1tsp Ground Nutmeg 1tsp Ground Ginger A pinch of salt 175g Granulated Sugar 115g Unsalted Butter, room temp 1 Egg, large 1tsp Vanilla Extract 85g Dark Molasses Icing Decorations (I use tubes of white, milk and dark chocolate and caramel icings from Tesco)

Method:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl and mix, then set aside. 2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 3. Add the molasses, vanilla and egg to the butter and sugar until fully combined. 4. Add the flour mix until it forms a smooth dough. 5. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 30 minutes while preheating the oven to 180C/160C fan. 6. Sprinkle flour on a surface and a rolling pin and roll the dough to 50mm thick, then cut into shapes with cookie cutters. 7. Line a baking tray with baking parchment, put the shaped cookies onto it at least 5cm apart, then bake for 10-15 minutes or until perfectly baked. 8. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack, then decorate.

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GBBO started this week and the first theme was cake week, starting off with personalised battenbergs, so I followed suit.

Raspberry and Lemon Battenberg - from EasyFood (I halved the ingredients and used lemon curd and marzipan instead of raspberry jam and fondant icing)

Ingredients:

For the sponge 175g butter, softened 175g caster sugar 3 eggs 140g self raising flour 50g ground almonds 1/2 tsp baking powder 25g raspberries, puréed Zest of 1 lemon

To assemble 100g lemon curd with raspberries crushed in 500g marzipan

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/160˚C fan/ gas mark 4. Line two 20cm square tins with non stick parchment paper. 2. To make the sponges, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. 4. Fold in the flour, ground almonds and baking powder, until just combined. 5. Divide the mix into two. In one mix add the zest of a lemon and to the other, swirl through the raspberry puree. 6. Pour each mix into their prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer is inserted and comes out clean. 7. Allow the sponges to cool completely. To assemble, crush the raspberries into half a jar of lemon curd until runny. 8. Using a sharp knife, trim the rough edges of the sponges, then cut sponges into 4 even strips. 9. Roll out the marzipan to just over 20 cm wide and 0.5cm thick 10. Place 1 strip of raspberry sponge and a strip of lemon sponge, lay them side by side. Brush the tops and sides of the sponges with jam. Place the remaining two strips of sponge on top, alternating the colours. 11. Carefully lift assembled battengerg on the edge of the rolled out marzipan. Lift the other side of the marzipan over and pinch the edges. Cut off the excess and smooth with your hands.

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That’s all for now - I shall post more as and when I bake!

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Pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting that I made in Oct 2019.

Pumpkin Bread - from Tasty

Ingredients:

2 eggs ½ cup oil (120 mL) 1 cup pumpkin puree (225 g) ⅔ cup honey (226 g) 2 tablespoons water 1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour (225 g) 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg ½ teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 pinch salt

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). 2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey, and water, and whisk until thoroughly combined. 3. Sprinkle the whole wheat flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, baking soda, and salt over the wet ingredients and fold until the batter is well combined. 4. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and smooth the top into an even layer. 5. Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 6. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a plate, cooling for a further hour before serving.

I made cream cheese frosting as an optional extra as I found the pumpkin bread a little dry.

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I’m a big fan of Dan and Phil and I love their Halloween baking videos (please come back and do them soon!) so of course I had to try their pumpkin spice cookies. These photos are of my mum’s and my creations from Sep 2019. I am planning on making more at some point this year!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies - Dan and Phil

Ingredients:

300g Plain Flour 1/2tsp Baking Powder 1tsp Ground Cloves 1tsp Ground Cinnamon 1tsp Ground Nutmeg 1tsp Ground Ginger A pinch of salt 175g Granulated Sugar 115g Unsalted Butter, room temp 1 Egg, large 1tsp Vanilla Extract 85g Dark Molasses Icing Decorations (I use tubes of white, milk and dark chocolate and caramel icings from Tesco)

Method:

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and spices into a bowl and mix, then set aside. 2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 3. Add the molasses, vanilla and egg to the butter and sugar until fully combined. 4. Add the flour mix until it forms a smooth dough. 5. Wrap in cling film and freeze for 30 minutes while preheating the oven to 180C/160C fan. 6. Sprinkle flour on a surface and a rolling pin and roll the dough to 50mm thick, then cut into shapes with cookie cutters. 7. Line a baking tray with baking parchment, put the shaped cookies onto it at least 5cm apart, then bake for 10-15 minutes or until perfectly baked. 8. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack, then decorate.

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Next is the Brother’s toffee apple cider cake. The first (and frankly better) attempt was in Nov 2018 and the second (melty) attempt was in Nov 2019.

Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider Cake - from Brother’s Cider

Ingredients:

For the Cake 200ml Brothers Toffee Apple 375g Softened Butter 500g Soft Brown Sugar 8 Eggs 575g Plain Flour 4 tsp Baking Powder 200ml Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider 3 Bramley Apples 1 jar caramel sauce 3 Toffee Apples For the Icing 575g Icing Sugar 200g Softened unsalted butter 75ml Brother’s Toffee Apple Cider

Method:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 160C fan, grease and line 3 x 22cm/8” cake tins. 2. Peel and chop the apples into 3cm chunks, sprinkle with some of the soft brown sugar and set to one side. 3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy 4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in-between each. 5. Add the flour, baking powder, apple chunks then fold to combine. Mix in the cider. 6. Divide between the three tins and bake for around 1hr 10 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. 7. Leave in the tins to cool for at least 20 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. 8. To make the buttercream beat the butter until very soft then gradually add the icing sugar. Once the icing sugar and butter is combined mix in the cider. 9. Once the cake layers have completely cooled, decorate with the buttercream, caramel sauce and sliced apple - both between each layer and on top.