My pretty petite pink Christening cakes

“A child is a precious gift from God.

And Baptism is God’s gift wrapping”

(www.love-of-poems.com)

My beautiful little niece was christened recently and I wanted to make something delicate and feminine to celebrate this momentous occasion. These precious little morsels were a great success and made the perfect centrepiece for the buffet table. Glistening royal icing with a slight hint of pink set off with the deeper, fluffier pink butter cream frill and a dainty flower. As you can tell – I love all things ‘sugar, spice and everything nice!’

sponge slab

To start – make your favourite sponge recipe into two slab cakes and allow to cool. You don’t want to make them too thick as it will be difficult with get the cookie cutter through the cake to cut the round, but also, they will not be a bite sized finger food suitable for a buffet table. These cakes are not meant to be an actual Christening cake in the traditional sense ie. a lovely iced affair but they can substitute if need be. They certainly are a cheaper alternative.

Cookie cutter

Next, use a cookie cutter to cut rounds from the sponge slabs. I used the straight end as I found this cut the cake cleaner than the fluted end. Once you have cut the rounds, spread one round with jam (I used strawberry) and place a second round on top of the first one creating a stack. Once all the rounds have been stacked together with jam, it is time to ice.

Sponge rounds coated with strawberry jam

Royal Icing

1 1/2 cups (240g) pure icing sugar

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice

A couple of drops of desired food colouring

Sift icing sugar through a very fine sieve. Lightly beat egg white in a small bowl with an electric mixer. Add icing sugar, a teaspoon at a time. When firm peaks are achieved, use a wooden spoon to stir in lemon juice then tint to your desired colour. Cover tightly with plastic wrap until ready to use. Note: the icing will set as soon as it is exposed to air so make sure to keep it covered.

Spread the top of the sponge stack with the glossy royal icing and set aside to set as you make up the butter cream.

Butter Cream

125g butter, softened

1 1/2 cups (240g) icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Beat butter in a small bowl with an electric mixer until as white as possible. Beat in the sifted icing sugar and milk, in two batches. Add desired colouring, if required. Spoon butter cream into an icing bag with a silver nozzle Size 3A star shape. Pipe swirls onto top of royal icing and immediately place a sugar flower onto the swirl. In the case of the larger sponge stack – top a larger swirl with a pair of sugar booties. To plate up – place the larger sponge with the booties in the centre of a circular serving plate. Then place the smaller sponges around the larger one radiating outwards from the centre. There you have it – the perfect centrepiece for a bonny baby girl’s christening.

The sugar flower and booties can be purchased from specialist food shops.

My petite christening cakes

Un beau bébé!