MEMBERS
BAKING
Ash’s Baking School
Dr Ashish Patel ST6 General Paediatrics & Sim Fellow Birmingham Children’s Hospital @DrKidneyAsh
Taking part in Kangaroo Care Awareness Day
HAPPY 25TH ANNIVERSARY to our wonderful College! To celebrate such a big milestone and the easing of lockdown (and hopefully the start of social gatherings again!), I felt a show stopping piñata cake was the perfect choice for such an occasion. Not only is it easy to make, but the secret treats inside make it a perfect paediatric themed cake. Enjoy and continue to spread the love of baking!
1. Make four plain sponge cakes of equal size (eight or ten inch) – these can be vanilla, lemon, chocolate sponge but just avoid cakes with any fruit in them. The ingredients I have provided are for vanilla sponge. I have not gone into too much detail but use any basic sponge recipe. Ensure they are fully cooled before handling. 2. Using a cake leveller, cut the tops of each sponge cake to make them smooth and of equal size. 3. Place a slightly smaller size cake drum or plate on top (e.g. for an eight inch cake use a seven inch drum), take a sharp knife and vertically trim the edges off each sponge. 4. Take a small round cookie cutter or glass (about two inches diameter), remove the centre of three of the four sponge cakes. Once you have removed one you can use that sponge cake as a template for the other two to ensure they are all identical.
PIÑATA CAKE Ingredients To make vanilla sponge (for 4x 8” inch cakes) 500g caster sugar 500g unsalted butter, soft 8 large eggs 500g self-raising flour 6 tbsp whole milk 1 tsp vanilla extract For the buttercream 150g unsalted butter, softened 340g icing sugar, sieved ¼ tsp vanilla extract 3-4 tbsp of full fat milk
5. Make the buttercream, using an electric or stand mixer if possible. Beat the unsalted butter for roughly five minutes until pale and soft. Add in the icing sugar in two parts, beating at a slow speed and then increasing the speed gradually. Add the vanilla extract and milk and beat for a further three-four minutes until the buttercream is soft, almost white looking and easily spreadable. You can add colour paste to change the colour of the buttercream if you so wish. 6. Assemble your piñata cake. Start with a layer of 'hole' sponge, spread an even layer of buttercream on top using a palette knife and repeat with the other two 'hole' layers. Make sure you line the central hole with a thin layer of buttercream as well. Fill the hole with your choice of filling – sweets, chocolate, but try to choose a filling that will easily fall out so smarties or M&M’s are a good shout. Finally top the cake with the remaining sponge layer and spread buttercream over the top and sides to finish. You can add any additional decoration you feel on top – go wild!
AWARENESS
KANGAROO CARE AWARENESS KANGAROO CARE AWARENESS DAY is an annual event in May spotlighting the importance of skinto-skin for babies and their parents. Kangaroo Care (KC), also known as skin-to-skin, is a technique where babies are held by their parents across their bare chest, so that the skin is touching. This contact is vital for babies’ development. As the UNICEF describes it: “It helps the baby to adjust to life outside the womb and is highly important for supporting mothers to initiate breastfeeding and to develop a close, loving relationship with their baby.” Neonatal units across the UK hold different activities to raise the profile of skin-to-skin and I’d like to reflect on what I learnt from my department’s celebration. One of the biggest takehome messages for me was that teamwork and good communication empowers all staff and is important for the effectiveness of new practices. Perhaps one of the most significant steps of this initiative was Dr Hamid Idriss the early inclusion of the senior medical team ST4 Paediatric Trainee and their contribution Barking, Havering to the decision to include and Redbridge suitability for KC as University Hospitals NHS Trust part of the ward round discussion. @hamidkassala
Milestones
SUMMER 2021
25
