Spiced White Christmas Cake

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted ovens)/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line 4 x 20cm round cake tins.
2. Make up the cake mixes as directed on the box with the oil, milk or water and egg, adding the cinnamon and ginger, if you like. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins (see Tips). Bake for 22-27 minutes until a rounded knife inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Remove the baking paper linings.
3. Meanwhile, place the white chocolate stars onto a sheet of baking paper and spray with the gold lustre. Set aside.
4. Trim the tops of the cakes to level, if needed. Place the base layer on a cake board (secure in place with a little dollop of icing). Sandwich the cakes together using 200g of the vanilla buttercream style icing – the bottom side of the top cake should be facing up. Coat the entire cake with 600g of the remaining icing using a small palette knife or cutlery knife. Smooth the icing with a long palette knife or cake smoother (see Tips). Freeze for 10 minutes.
5. Prepare a triangular template; cut a triangle from baking paper that measures 9.5cm across the base, ensuring it is tall enough to reach the top of your cake. With a small sharp knife, lightly score around the template 4 times at equal intervals around the cake. Beat the remaining icing to loosen and spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large closed star nozzle (you may need to do this in batches). Working on one triangle ‘tree’ at a time, pipe upward shell-shapes along the base of the triangle – to make one ‘shell-shape’, gently squeeze a blob of icing onto the cake and drag the nozzle tip vertically upwards pressing gently on the cake towards the end to release. Start with 5-6 shell-shapes across the bottom of the triangle, decreasing the number as you work up the triangle. Pipe a few flicked out shell-shapes up the sides to create tree ‘branches’. Repeat with the remaining pre-marked triangles.
6. Decorate the trees with the gold and white pearl sprinkles – very gently press each sprinkle onto the piped icing (using a clean pair of tweezers). Use the gold sprayed chocolate stars to decorate the tops of the trees.

Tips

• If you only have two cake tins, make and bake one cake mix. Clean, grease and re-line the tins and bake the second cake mix.
• A serrated bread knife works well to level cakes. Leveling the cakes will give a sturdy base for a four-layer cake.
• If you have time, it’s worth giving the layered cake a thin crumb coat first. Use a third of the 600g of icing to spread all over the cake in a thin layer to seal in any loose crumbs. Smooth with a long palette knife or cake smoother. Freeze for 10 minutes; then, cover the cake with the remaining 400g icing, applying again with a small palette knife or cutlery knife. Smooth with a long palette knife or cake smoother.
• Get ahead or prefer to work in stages? After coating the cake in the vanilla icing, you can chill the cake in the fridge overnight, then pipe and decorate the ‘trees’ on the day or day before serving. It will keep in the fridge coated for up to 3 days.