Go Jetters Globe Cake

Recipe by April Carter

The Go Jetters are on top of the world with this fantastic cake!

INGREDIENTS

For the red and orange cake layers:

• 450g plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 340g unsalted butter, softened
• 450g caster sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 180ml milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• red and orange paste food colouring

For the chocolate cake layer:

• 375g plain flour
• 75g cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 340g unsalted butter, softened
• 450g caster sugar
• 6 medium eggs
• 180ml milk

For the buttercream:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the decoration:

• 1kg light blue fondant
• 250g green fondant
• blue, light blue, red and purple fondant
• small amount of orange, green and black fondant

Equipment:

• small, medium and large hemisphere tins sized 10cm, 14cm and 21cm in diameter

mETHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4 and grease the cake tins. Whisk together the flour and baking powder and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined. Add the vanilla and milk, continuing to beat, and then add the remaining flour mixture beating until just combined. Weigh out 400g of the cake mix and stir in the red food colouring. Colour the remaining cake mix with the orange food colouring.
2. Fill the small tin with half of the red cake mix, place on a cookie cutter or cooking ring on a baking tray to keep it level and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Set aside to cool slightly, remove from the tin and trim away any cake mix that might have overflowed during the baking time.
3. Weigh 550g of the orange cake mix into the medium sized cake tin and push the red cake into the centre covering the edges with orange cake mix to keep it in place. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the orange layer of the cake comes out clean.
4. Meanwhile, wash the small tin and bake the remaining red cake mix to create the other half of the central red layer. Cool and trim off any overflowed cake as before.
5. Bake the second red cake into a second hemisphere of orange cake mix as before. Save the remaining orange cake mix for later. Once both orange hemispheres have baked, trim away any overflowing cake mix from the sides again to create a neat circle.
6. To make the chocolate layer, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat until just combined. Add the milk, continuing to beat, and then add the remaining flour mixture beating until just combined. Add the remaining orange cake mixture.
7. Weigh 1kg cake mix into the large tin and push one of the orange hemispheres into the centre. Bake for 50-60 minutes and repeat with the remaining cake mix to create the second half. While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. Beat the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until pale and creamy.
8. Level the two hemispheres and sandwich together with a thin layer of buttercream to create a sphere. Cut a small amount off the side of the sphere to create a flat base. Stick the sphere onto a 25cm wide cake board, cover in a layer of buttercream and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9. Roll out the light blue fondant onto a surface dusted with icing sugar to a 5mm thickness and cover the cake, smoothing down the sides, trimming and tucking under the sponge. Cut a small strip and fix around the base with some left over buttercream for a neat finish.
10. Roll out the green fondant and roughly cut out the shape of the continents with a small sharp knife. Stick onto the cake with buttercream.
11. To make the fondant characters, kneed the blue, light blue, red and purple fondant briefly and shape into 4 body shapes with small sausage shapes to create arms for each character. Set aside to firm up. For details like Foz and Xuli’s yellow stripes, Kyan’s orange suit and Lar’s white helmet, roll out fondant onto a work surface dusted with icing sugar and cut out shapes to cover the bodies. Stick down with a damp paint brush and wrap around. Use a small star cutter to cut out the orange badges and fix to small blue circles. Use a small round cutter to cut out the characters’ faces and squash into oval shapes. Use small amounts of black fondant to create their eyes, mouths and eyebrows. Sit the characters into the top of the globe cake using cocktail sticks for stability.
12. The fondant decoration can be made up to a week in advance and the cakes can be baked the day before decoration.