I am not a sporty person. Never have been and probably never will be. However, swimming has always been the one sporting activity that I have kept going over the years. Although I have not actually gone proper swimming by myself for about 5 years. However, both my boys love swimming and are like fishes in the water and they have such a confidence in the water which makes me both proud and happy.
When I set the Team Honk Great Bloggers Bake Off Challenge back in February, I knew all along that there was only one type of cake I could make (even though it has taken me soooo long to get around to making it!). A Swimming Pool cake of course ! It is just a plain sponge filled with jam and covered in buttercream and then decorated , hopefully, to look like a swimming pool. Here is how I made it.
- 200g unsalted butter
- 200g self raising flour
- 200g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp elderflower cordial (or vanilla essence)
- ½ jar of jam - I used strawberry
- 100g cold unsalted butter
- 200g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp white chocolate spread
- ½ tube of Dr Oetekar blue liquid gel food colouring
- 4 bars of white chocolate (4 x 100g bars)
- 250g approx of white marzipan (white ready to roill icing would work aswell - i didnt have any hence the marzipan)
- blue edible glitter beads
- edible sweet necklaces
- white chocolate fingers
- playmobil figures (optional)
- pre heat the oven to 180oC / 160o C (fan)
- grease and line a rectangle baking tin - I used an 8 x 10inch
- Cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes until pale and fluffy
- Add the eggs and the elderflower cordial and a spoonful of flour and beat for a couple more minutes
- Fold in the remaining flour
- Pour into the tin and cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes until cooked right through
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to cool
- While cooling make your buttercream by beating the butter until soft. then carefully add the icing sugar bit by bit to make smooth paste. Beat in the white chocolate spread.
- Divide the buttercream into two portions, and in one lot stir in the blue food colouring
- Once the sponge has cooled completely, carefully slice in half with a sharp knife to make 2 sponges the same size as the baking tin
- Sandwich together with the jam
- Around the outer perimeter of the cake slather on some white buttercream. Divide the white chocolate bars in half length ways, and stick around the sides of the cake. You will have to break some of the chocolate up again to fit into the gaps.
- Add the blue buttercream to the top of the cake - no need ot smooth it completely, you want it to look a bit rippled
- Roll out the marzipan to about ½ cm thickness and cut out strips to fit along each top side of the cake. I then added the blue glitter to the top of the marzipan.
- The I added edible sweet necklaces to make swimming lanes and some white chocolate fingers to make a pool ladder
- To finish off the look, I added some Play Mobil figures which came with the Play Mobil swimming set!
So there you have it, my entry into the Team Honk Great Bloggers Bake Off – an epic Swimming Pool Cake.
Why dont you bake something for Sport Relief?
It really does not matter if you are a good or bad cook the main thing is to join in and have some fun and raise some money. It could be as simple as fairy cakes with glace cherry red noses on top, maybe cherry scones, or you could go all out and create a show stopper of a cake with a sporting theme.
The linky is open from today until Monday 28th April allowing you plenty of time to get baking.
After the closing date, there will be prizes for the funniest and most show stopping bakes (2 winners in total) and they will be chosen by
Emma Freud
wooooo hoooooo – so what are you waiting for???
The rules are very simple:
- bake something with a Sport Relief/Sporty/Team Honk Relay/ Red Nose theme – it can be as OTT as you wish or it can be very modest. It can be funny or serious and even if it all goes wrong, blog about it anyway because it could be chosen for being the funniest
- the bake must be made by you or your children, no bought cakes please
- please add the special Great Bloggers Team Honk Badge to your post
- please add a link to my blog so people know who is hosting it
- please add the blog hop code
- you must donate at least £2 to the Team Honk fundraising page which is here and you must leave your blog URL so we can check that you have donated
- you are allowed to link up more than one recipe but that will mean more than one donation please
- please try and comment on a few other fellow bakers posts even if it is the two either side of yours on the blog hop
- please tweet me your linked up bakes (@JennyPaulin) so I know you have linked up and I can RT for you
So what are you waiting for?
Get your aprons ready and on your marks, get set and baaaaaaaake!
Good luck 🙂
HELEN
haha, love it Jenny!
hpmcq
oh me oh my this is totally HONKTASTIC!
Jenny Paulin
thank you so much x
allyouneedisloveandcake
That’s brilliant Jenny, I love it!
Lauren
That is so brilliant Jenny. Your attention to detail is amazing xx
Julie
Your cake is brilliant, definitely a winner.
clairetiptop
OOOH What a great recipe I love this
Surf’s Up for Sport Relief : Great Bloggers Bake Off #Team Honk | A Wannabe Foodie
[…] If you fancy joining in why not hop on over to Mummy Mishaps and link up your sporty bake …. http://www.mummymishaps.co.uk/2014/04/swimming-pool-cake-team-honk-bake-off.html […]
mummyslittlepeeps
That’s fantastic I love it
Clairey
great cake 🙂
Helen Sims The good life mum
This cake is so awesome your so clever and imaginative
Bex @ The Mummy Adventure
This looks so fab, I love it!
mummiafelice (@Mummiafelice)
This is fabulous! wow wow wow!!!
Zumba Cake | Dreaming of a Craft Room
[…] Bridge. So what better way to raise money for two very worthy charities than take part in the Great Blogger’s Bake Off for Sports Relief with a zumba themed cake. The cake was raffled for Parkinson’s UK and […]
Zumba Cake | Dreaming of a Craft Room
[…] Bridge. So what better way to raise money for two very worthy charities than take part in the Great Blogger’s Bake Off for Sports Relief with a zumba themed cake. The cake was raffled for Parkinson’s UK and […]
mummymakescakes
You’re always so inventive in the ways you decorate your cakes – I particularly love the sweetie necklace for the lanes #CelebrationCakesAndBakes