Bunny Vanilla Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream

Preheat oven to 170°C/325ºF/Gas Mark 3. Line the bottoms of three 5-inch layer pans with parchment paper.

Cake

1. Line the bottoms of three 5-inch layer pans with parchment paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork.
3. In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon or a spatula until well combined. Do not overmix or your cake will not be airy – you don’t want your flour to become too strong or the cake will become compact. Scrape well the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well incorporated.
5. Pour into the pans and bake until golden – check after 15 minutes but always check with a knife or a cake tester for the final result.

Buttercream

1. Melt your chocolate on a double boiler (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Double-Boiler-(Bain-Marie))
2. Mix the shortening and margarine.
3. Add the first 250g of icing sugar, and mix well until it becomes fluffy.
4. Add a splash of milk and mix well.
5. Add the remaining icing sugar and then the milk chocolate.
You will need to check the consistency of your buttercream – you might need to add some liquid – plant milk – or some icing sugar. The buttercream should be stiff enough to hold the cake and not collapse so you don’t want it to be shiny and look wet. But you don’t want it to be too stiff or it’s not going to taste amazing!

Assembling/Decorating

Layer the cake, fill each layer with buttercream and then cover all around the outside of the cake. Finally, sprinkle it like crazy!

(tip: when empty, keep the vanilla pods and let them to dry. When they are dry, mix them in a blender, add the powder to sugar and tada, you have homemade vanilla sugar!).