RECIPE: Spiced Caramel Feather Cake

I first came across the Feather Cake phenomenon while browsing Pinterest and fell in love with how effective something so simple could be. Essentially, you make 'feathers' out of Candy Melts or coloured white chocolate and then attach them to a cake of your choice. It seemed a pretty quick way to create a showstopper cake, so I couldn't resist having a go for my husband's birthday. I ordered a range of Candy Melts from Hobbycraft, as well as some new paintbrushes and was ready to get started! 

My husband loves caramel, so I made him a Spiced Caramel Cake...

What you'll need:

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

4 Eggs

2 tsp Salted Caramel Flavouring

(I picked this up from the baking section at Morrisons)

225g Self Raising Flour

1-2 tsp Cinnamon, to taste

for the icing

4-6 tbsp. Ready-made Caramel or Dulce de Leche

140g Softened Butter

1-2 tbsp. Milk

280g Icing Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

What to do:

1) Preheat the oven to 180'C. Grease and line two round baking trays with greaseproof paper. 

2) Cream the butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time and the salted caramel flavouring. 

3) Fold in the flour and cinnamon to create a soft-dropping consistency. You may need to add a splash of milk to create the desired consistency.

4) Spoon the mixture into the baking tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean from the middle.

5) Remove from the oven and allow to stand for five minutes. Then peel off the greaseproof paper and cool on a wire rack.

6) In the meantime make the caramel buttercream filling - beat the butter in a large bowl and add half of the icing sugar until smooth. 

7) Add the remaining icing sugar and a splash of milk until you have a creamy, smooth buttercream. Swirl in the caramel to create a marbled buttercream.

8) To assemble the cake place one half onto a plate (pop a blob on buttercream on the plate first to stop the cake sliding around), spread some of the buttercream over the top and place the second half of the cake on top. Make sure it is aligned and then spread more of the buttercream all around the outside of the cake, creating a crumb coat. Leave in the fridge to set.

9) Cover the cake in a second layer of buttercream icing, using a palette knife to create a smooth surface all around. Place in the fridge to set.

Now it is time to make the 'feathers', which are easier than you probably think and tasty too! 

What you'll need:

Candy Melts or Coloured White Chocolate (with gel food colouring)

Non-Stick Greaseproof Paper

Paintbrushes

What to do:

1) Melt the Candy Melts/White Chocolate either over boiling water in a saucepan or very slowly in the microwave. Chocolate burns easily, so take it slowly and allow the heat of the bowl to melt the final few chunks.

2) Place a length of non-stick greaseproof paper on a smooth surface. Spoon on about a tablespoon of the melted Candy Melts/White Chocolate, using a paintbrush to create the feather shape. Repeat the process until you've run out of Candy Melts/White Chocolate. It is more effective if you do a range of different sizes, also make sure they aren't too thin as that will make transferring them onto the cake trickier. 

3) Leave the feathers to set completely, then carefully peel them off the greaseproof paper. This part can be done in advance and stored in an airtight container. 

4) To fix the feathers to your cake you can do a combination of pushing them into the cake and using the buttercream to 'stick' them to the sides. I did buy edible glue, but found that the buttercream was strong enough to hold them up.

Have fun playing around with the positioning of the feathers; they look particularly impressive on two-tier cakes. There is lots of inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram for different colour combinations for the feathers or different positioning's. 

Do you like experimenting with cake decorations?

Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)

Helen x