Pinata Cake

a tasty alternative from LittleButtonDiaries.com

For this cake you will need: • Ingredients to make a basic sponge cake

For the decoration: • Chocolate buttercream • White ready-to-roll icing • A small sprig of holly

For the filling: • Chocolate coins

Begin by making the sponge as per your recipe. I went for a basic vanilla sponge. You’re trying to achieve a cake in the shape of a ball, so to make the sponges curved, bake them in a hemisphere cake pan. While the sponges cool, make the dark chocolate buttercream.

Cut the bottom off one of the sponges to give the cake a flat base. Then put a small amount of buttercream onto a board and place the cake on top. The buttercream ‘sticks’ the cake to the board, so it’s ready to assemble. Once the sponges have completely cooled, scoop out the middle sections, being careful not to reach the bottom of the sponge. Next, cram as many chocolate coins as you can into the hole, then repeat this with the other half of the cake. I took the wrapping off all of them bar one to keep the tradition of having a silver coin in your Christmas pudding. Spread a layer of buttercream around the edge of the cake and place the other sweetfilled sponge on top. Spread the rest of the buttercream around the entire cake. Once the cake is covered with buttercream, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes to set. This makes it easier to spread a second layer and get a smoother finish. For the final decoration, roll out the white icing thinly (about 5mm thick) and cut a fluffy cloud shape (you want it to look like a snowy peak once it’s on top of the cake). Place the icing on top of the cake and smooth down. Finally, place of sprig of holly on top to finish.