♡ Swirl's & Heart Cake for Our Wedding Anniversary ♡

August is a month of ample significance for me & Nikhil and our wedding anniversary makes it super special :D. Right from the very beginning of this month, we had been super busy with our friends coming over on the weekends. Days were filled with fun frolic n good food. 
To make our special day still stand out, I had planned to bake a beautiful cake with a cute lil surprise inside - A little pink heart. I knew Nikhil would steal some glimpses of the decorated cake but the heart inside was a toughy! Luckily everything went as planned and the cake came out really well. The cake is quite rich,but you will still have your family/friends asking for second serves. The outcome will definitely make the baker happy...and not to mention the lucky people munching on it!

♡ ♡ ♡ Swirl's & Heart Cake for Our Wedding Anniversary ♡ ♡ ♡

Recipe adapted from the book The Great British Bake Off How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers

♡ ♡

♡ ♡ ♡Our 2nd Wedding Anniversary ♡ ♡ ♡

♡ ♡ ♡ Beautiful tea-lights ♡ ♡ ♡

 ♡ ♡ ♡ Heart inside Cake ♡ ♡ ♡

Ingredients:
FOR THE SPONGE

250 g Unsalted Butter, softened
250 g Caster Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract
4 Eggs, at room temperature & slightly beaten
250 g Self-raising Flour
good pinch of Salt
2 Tbsp Milk

FOR THE HEART(inside cake)
100 g Marzipan ( I used regal icing)
Dark pink edible food color

FOR THE BUTTER-CREAM FROSTING
250 g Unsalted Butter, softened
720 g Icing sugar ( original recipe called for 800 g)
3 tsp Vanilla extract (or any other flavoring)
5-6 Tbsp Milk

Method:
FOR THE SPONGE

• Preheat oven to 180 C/ 160 C fan/ gas 4. Prepare and line two sandwich tins. 
• Beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until creamy. 
• Now beat in the sugar and vanilla extract until the mixture is pale and very fluffy in texture. 
• Add the slightly beaten eggs little by little while beating the mixture well. 
• Add a Tbsp of the weighed flour with the final two portions of egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. 
• Sift the remaining flour and salt into the bowl and gently fold the mixture until well combined. 
• Fold in enough milk to make the cake batter soft enough to drop off a wooden spoon while slightly shaken. 
• Transfer the batter to the prepared tins and bake for 30-35 mins until golden brown and springy when lightly pressed at the centre of cake. 
• Remove it from oven and let it cool for 5 mins. Then carefully turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. 

FOR THE HEART

• Knead the marzipan (or regal icing) in your hands just to soften, then work in the dark pink color gel/paste (one drop at a time using a cocktail stick dipped into color pot) until you get the desired shade. 
• Using your hands, roll it to a sausage shape ( around 32 cm long and more than a cm wide). 
• Make a deep groove along the length and then gently open the cut surface to get a V shape. 
• Turn it and mould the upper side to a distinct point. 
• Now form a ring shape and press the ends firmly together. 

FOR THE BUTTER-CREAM

• Beat softened butter until pale and creamy. 
• Sift in the icing sugar and add milk & vanilla extract (or your preferred flavoring). 
• Beat the mixture until very smooth but thick.

FOR ASSEMBLING THE CAKE

• Place one sponge on the serving plate and spread enough buttercream on top to set the marzipan ring. 
• Set the marzipan ring on the filling to have the grooved side facing up. 
• Now fill more buttercream to cover the marzipan ring and place the second sponge on top. 
• Spread a thin layer of buttercream on top and sides of the cake. 
• Now pipe swirls all over the cake. (Easiest way to get this type of swirl, start the swirl from the centre and pipe outwards so the ends are tucked in. They don't have to be same size or shape.)
• Fill any gaps with a spot of buttercream and finish .

Notes: Originally the cake was to be baked in a Victoria surprise loose based cake set, so if you need similar effect on cakes baked in two sandwich tins, you need to carve out a little of the centre of the cake to spread the filling. You may also require more quantity frosting to pipe roses and as filling. 

The original recipe also used 5 Tbsp Champagne to flavor the buttercream but I used pure vanilla extract only.
The cake actually cuts best after the day it is baked and assembled. Keep at cool room temperature or in fridge for up to 3-4 days. Serve at room temperature. I could not click a good picture of the cake cross section, as it got wiped off the plate quite soon!
Last but not the least, Thank You Nishima & Ajin, for the wonderful book :D

                                                               ♥ Thank You ♥