Raspberry and Strawberry Cake with Marsala

This is one of my favourite cake and I keep baking this one time and time again. I think mascarpone/cream cheese and Marsala is a match made in heaven but if you even add some fresh strawberry and raspberry...........hmmm even nicer.

For the sponge

125 g butter

0.5-1 tbsp instant coffee

175 ml hot water

100 g good quality dark chocolate

190 g caster sugar

115 g self-raising flour

75 g plain flour

25 g cocoa powder

1 egg

For the cream

250 ml double cream

250 g cream cheese/mascarpone

2-3 tbsp icing sugar

3-6 tbsp Marsala - optional but highly recommended

1 Dream Topping

250 g strawberries
150 g raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare 2 sandwich tins (19 cm in diameter). Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Blend the coffee with the hot water, add to the butter with the chocolate and sugar and heat gently, stirring until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and leave just until warm.

Sift in the flours and cocoa butter, then using an electric mixer whisk together with the warm chocolate mixture on low speed. Gradually whisk in all other dry ingredients then the egg.

Divide the mixture between the two sandwich tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes until firm and the skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack.

For the cream whisk to soft peaks the double cream with dream topping, add the cream cheese, icing sugar and Marsala and give it a final beat (don't beat it for too long otherwise you can't really spready the cream. Taste the cream and if you think it isn't sweet or boozy enough just add more icing sugar or Marslala.

Layer together the sponge and cream adding sliced strawberries(2/3rd) in the middle layer and leave the raspberries as a whole for the top of the cake and remaining strawberries.

Keep it in the fridge... it is best if you leave it rest in a the fridge for a few hours or next day before serving.

Rum&Coconut Cream Roulade

This is a twist on a traditional recipe: the cream isn't just a butter and dessicated coconut mix, but a more healthier, tastier version. We ate this often as a child as it doesn't require any baking, and quite cheap but delicious at the same time. 

Rum&Coconut Cream Roulade

For the roulade (for approx 30cm)

500 g grounded biscuit -I use plain household biscuits in Hungary so if you make it from digestive just cut back a little on the sugar

320 ml milk

20 g butter-melted but cooled to room tempeature

3 tbsp dark rum

3-4 tbps cocoa powder

100 g icing sugar

For the cream

250 g coconut cream (strain the excess juice from the cream)

80 g icing sugar

20 g ground almond

100 g dessicated coconut

3 tbsp dark rum - optional: if you make for adults for the weekend:)

plus some extra dessicated coconut to roll the roulade in

 Put all ingredients for the roulade in a bowl and mix it together until you get a slightly sticky dough. Cover it in cling film and put it into the fridge for 30-50 minutes to rest.

In the meantime you can prepare the filling. Mix all ingredients with a spoon, and place it to the fridge as well.

When the dough is rested, place it on a big piece of baking sheet and roll it to a rectangle shape. It should be thick enough roll without breakage, but if you leave it too thick (like me) you won't have that nice roulade effect. 

So roll it to 4-5 mm thick and spread the cream on top. With the help of the baking sheet roll it tightly and cover the roulade with dessicated coconut. Cover it and leave it to rest for at least an hour in the fridge, then it is ready:)

If you don't eat it at one go, keep it in the fridge...

Hazelnut Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

The other dessert I prepared for my friend's Christmas party was this pana cotta. As usual I added some booze to make it suitable for the festive table:) The raspberry coulis is quite concentrated on the plate, so it may seem a little dark, but it tasted divine - just some sharpness to compliment the hazelnut's sweetness.

Hazelnut Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

For the panna cotta enough for 4 dariole moulds

3 gelatine leaves

200 ml milk

300 ml double cream

25 g sugar

60 ml Soplica Hazelnut ( it is a Polish Hazelnut vodka -36%, but it is the liquefied version of the Nutella:))

1 vanilla pod

1 heaped tbsp Nutella

For the raspberry coulis

15 g butter

60 g sugar

180 g raspberries

juice of 1/2 lemon

Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water.

In a heavy based saucepan, mix the milk, cream, sugar and gently simmer. Remove from the heat add the Nutella, vanilla seeds, gelatine leaves and Soplica to taste.

Stir until the gelatine has dissolved and pour into dariole moulds. Leave to cool, then place them into the fridge to set.

To make to raspberry coulis, place the butter and sugar in a saucepan over a gentle heat and allow the butter to melt and sugar to dissolve. Add the raspberries and lemon juice and cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pass through a sieve. Allow to cool.

When the Panna Cotta is set (about 4 hours in the fridge), turn them out onto individual serving plates and spoon raspberry sauce all around. You can remove the excess liquid from the panna cotta if you wish...but I didn't want to waste any good part of it. 

Flódni / Apple, poppy seed and walnut pastry

Baked goods are quite popular in Hungary if it contains walnut, poppy seed or apple, never mind if all three are on the ingredient list. The other good thing about this pastry that you first have to assemble it and then bake it, so although it has 4 layers it doesn't require to bake 4 separate layers. The recipe also stated that you have to put in 300 ml white wine, but you can't really taste it in the end- I think it is more for the texture, consistency than for the taste.

Flódni / Apple, poppy seed and walnut pastry

 

For the pasty:

500 g plain flour

250 g butter on room temperature

100 g icing sugar

3 egg yolk

100 ml white wine

 

For the apple filling

800g sharp apple

2 tbsp honey

lemon to taste (approx. 1/2 - 1 lemon)

cinnamon and ground cloves to taste

 

For the poppy seed filling

200 g ground poppy seed

100 g sugar

50 g sultana / currant

100 ml white wine

 

For the walnut filling

120 g ground walnut

80 g chopped walnut

100 g sugar

50 g sultana / currant

100 ml white wine

 

egg wash

 

 

Preheat the oven to 170C and line a 19X25cm rectangle pan - leave the baking paper longer on the sides, so after baking you can lift out the pastry.

 

Rub the butter into the flour, add in the eggs, sugar and white wine. Form a dough then wrap it in cling film and rest it in the fridge until you prepare the fillings.

 

Peel  and core the apples then grate them. Add in the honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and cloves to taste.

 

Mix the grated poppy seed with the sugar and sultanas. Heat 100ml white wine to boiling point and pour it on top the poppy seed mix.

 

Mix the grated walnut with the chopped walnut sugar and sultanas. Heat 100ml white wine to boiling point and pour it on top the walnut mix.

 

Divide the pastry to 4 equal parts and on a floured surface and roll out  to the size of the pan. Put one pasty layer it into the tin and top it with the poppy seed filling.

 

Level the poppy seed filling and top it with another pastry layer, then walnut filling, pastry, apple filling and finish it off with a pastry layer. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork and brush it with egg wash.

 

 

Bake it in the oven for 60-70 minutes or until it has a nice golden colour.

When it is completely cooled, lift out from the pan (or if you manage to rip off all the baking sheet like me, just put a chopping board on top- turn it up side down, than another board on it and flip it back. It is quite a sturdy bake so it will keep its shape).

 

Slice it and serve it with icing sugar and a whole walnut piece for decoration if you like.



Pina Colada Cake

 I saw a pina colada cake recipe in my new book. I loved the idea (coconut, rum, pineapple) but I didn't like the recipe-sorry author. The cake was a simple sponge, with buttery-sugary cream....aghhh

So I made my own version, because  I also think that in order to call a cake a boozy cake you need more than 2 tbsp alcohol in it. The end result was fab (and incredibly easy to make), one of my favourite cakes I ever made...it is in my top 3.

Pina Colada cake

For the sponge

200 g self-raising flour

210 g butter at room temperature

200 g golden caster sugar

50 g dessicated coconut

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

1-3 tbsp milk

For the cream

250 g mascarpone

125 g cream chese

150 g melted white chocolate

40 g dessicated coconut

1-3 tbsp white Rum/Malibu

Filling

1/2 pineapple

3-5 tbsp dark Rum

1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar

Slice the pineapple to small pieces, coat it with the muscovado sugar and rum and place it to the fridge. Leave to absorb the alcohol for at least 6 hours, but preferably overnight.

Preheat your oven to 180C and prepare a 23 cm round tin with baking paper.Put all the cake ingredients in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture and add milk as needed.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Leave to cool completely than cut the cake in half with a cake leveler.

For the cream, put all the cream ingredients in a bowl and mix it with an electric mixer. That's it:)

Put 2/3 of the cream in between the sponge layers and all the pineapple except a handful that you can reserve for the top decoration. Leave it to rough, I love the rustic look of it.

Place the second sponge on top and cover it with the rest of the cream and pineapples.

Keep it in the fridge, but remove it 20 minutes before consuming.

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

This was the chocolate cake I made for my boss who is now off to get married next weekend. I baked a chocolate cake (his absolute favourite) and a Lemon Curd filed Zila Cubes cakes. The Zila cakes were the perfect start of the morning (as it was conveniently sliced) before we dig in the oozing chocolate mountain. I took the recipe from the BBCgoodfood (Angela Nilsen) website as it had over 800 positive ratings, so I thought it must be good.........and ohh my God how good it was. I only changed the cream and made a 10% bigger cake so it would be a nice size in my rectangle tin (I found the rectangle shape better for he office cake sharing/it is easier to divide and share). Oh I made a poor attempt to replicate my boss and his fiancee to sit on top of the cake....sadly later during delivery his leg broke into pieces...........but I still sit them on top of the cake as I worked too hard not to put them on. I also made the mistake to cover the freshly covered cake with kitchen foil which later stuck to the cream and left some marks, but nobody complained about this:) 

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

For the sponge

220 g good quality dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids

220 g butter

1 tbsp instant coffee ganules

95 g self-raising flour

95 g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

220 g light muscovado sugar

200 g golden caster sugar

30 g cocoa powder

4 medium eggs

85 ml buttermilk (5tbsp)

For the cream

500g mascarpone

200 g good quality dark chocolate, about 60% cocoa solids

3-4 tbsp hazelnut liqueur

To decorate

50 g chocolate for chocolate curls 

Preheat the oven to 160C and line a 19X25 cm rectangle tin with baking paper.

Break the dark chocolate in pieces into a medium, heavy based pan. Cut the butter into pieces and tip in with the chocolate, then mix 1 tbsp instant coffee granules into 125 ml cold water and pour into the pan. Warm through over a low heat just until everything is melted - don't overheat.

While the chocolate is melting, mix the self raising flour, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, light muscovado sugar, golden caster sugar and cocoa powder in a big bowl, mixing with your hands to get rid of any lumps. Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the buttermilk.

Now pour the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the flour mixture, stirring just until everything is well blended and you have a smooth, quite runny consistency. Pour this into the tin and bake for 1 hour 25 -1 hour 30 minutes - if you push a skewer in the middle it should come out clean and the top should feel firm. 

Leave it to cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally into three. Make the cream:mixing the mascarpone with the melted but slightly cooled chocolate and the hazelnut liqueur.

Sandwich the layers together with the mascarpone cream but leave enough cream to cover the outside of the cake with a palette knife.

Decorate with chocolate curls: melt 50 g of dark chocolate and spread it on a sooth chopping board. Pop it to the freezer for 10 minutes so the chocolate  hardens, then with a long bladed sharp knife start shaving curls of the surface. It doesn't have to be precise, the more shape and size you have is the better.

The cake keeps moist and gooey for 3-4 days......haha it took 30 minutes for the office staff to demolish the whole cake:)

Chocolate Fingers Celebration Cake with Red Berries

It is my friend's birthday today so true to traditions I baked her a birthday cake. I always wanted to make a similar cake but the chocolate cigarellos just way out of my budget range(for a small cake  it would cost 30-40 pounds at least). But, there is a cheaper alternative: Chocolate fingers! I modified my previous flourless brownie recipe (but added some flour to make it more sturdy) as I just couldn't have enough of it since yesterday.

Chocolate Fingers Celebration Cake with Red Berries

Ingredients for the cake
250 g dark chocolate broken into pieces (around 60%-70 cocoa solids)
250 g unsalted butter, diced
100 g golden caster sugar
4 medium eggs
100 g  ground almonds
50 g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder, sifted
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

For the cream and decoration
250 g mascarpone
100 g dark chocolate broken into pieces
2-5 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
2.5 box of Cadbury Chocolate Fingers

300 g raspberries
150 g strawberries

red ribbon for decorating
2 coloured pearl headed pins

Preheat the oven to 170C and prepare two 19 cm sandwich tin.

Melt the chocolate (250 g) with the butter in a bowl set over a pan with a little simmering water in it. Remove from the heat, add the sugar and stir to combine, then leave to cool slightly. Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture, one by one, beating after each addition until the mixture is very glossy.

Gently fold in the ground almonds, flour, baking powder and cinnamon without overmixing.

Spread the chocolate mixture in the tins and bake for 25-35 minutes. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean with just a few moist crumbs on it.

In the meantime  you can prepare the filling. Melt the 100 g chocolate in a bowl set over a pan with a little simmering water in it. Remove from the heat then leave to cool slightly. Add the mascarpone and work it until fully incorporated then add Amaretto liqueur to taste (as this cake made for a birthday girl, I wasn't shy with the amount:))

When the cake is ready and completeley cooled, level with a cake leveller. Place one layer on the cake stand and spread some chocoalte filling and sandwich with the other sponge layer.

Cover the cake with the rest of the chocolate cream (leaving a thicker layer on the top rather than the sides) and start to press lightly the chocolate fingers to the sides. You should face the cake eye level otherwise after a few chocolate you tend to misplace the fingers and they won't stand straight.

I prepared the bow while baking the sponge. Just cut a piece of ribbon, tie it, then insert a headed pin from behind. Cut a bigger piece of ribbon, tie it around the cake and fix it with another headed pin(obviously please wash the pins before use, and just before cutting the cake remove the ribbon with the needles to avoid any accidents). When you happy with the position of the ribbon just insert the bow on top.

Place or arrange the washed fruits on top.............and you can start preparing for the birthday party.

and Happy Birthday Rimma!!!!!

Chocolate and Amaretto Madeleines

I received my Lakeland offer yesterday and I had to used at least half of the new kit:) The first on the list was the mini madeleines silicone form. I used the first recipe I come across on the BBC Good food website. The original recipe calls for hazelnut liqueur (sadly I didn't have any at home) but I replaced with Amaretto (almond liqueur).

Chocolate and Amaretto Madeleines

Ingredients (makes 12 normal size or 30 mini ones)
80 g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
20 g ground almonds
2 tbsp cocoa powder
75 g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
1 vanilla pod
2 tbsp Amaretto
90g unsalted butter, melted

Shift the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and cocoa with a pinch of salt. Butter the mini madeleines form.

Whisk the sugar and eggs with electric mixer until thick, pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the flour mix, vanilla seeds, Amaretto and butter. Cover the surface of the mix with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 200C. Fill each cavity to 2/3 and bake it for 10 minutes or until risen and springy. Tap the form to loosen and tip out. Dust with cocoa and serve warm.

Coconut Balls With Cherry

So it is 8th of September: it is my Name Day. I know many of you are raising your eyebrows...but in Hungary we celebrate  Name Days as well as  Birthdays. To explain what it's all about I included a description from Wikipedia, but the main thing is: I was baking for my colleagues, but being a weekday I was looking for quick recipes. I baked Mini Vanilla "Croissant" With Nuts, Chocolate Beetroot Cake (I was given a big veg box  by my friend who is ordering from a farm....but they can't eat it all, and I had 8 beetroots to deal with) and Coconut  Balls. These are all quick and simple recipes: mix it, bake it (you don't even have to bake the Coconut Balls) and done:)

Coconut Balls With Cherry

Ingredients (makes about 48)

500g household biscuit - powdered or digestive biscuit

100g butter, room temperature, slightly melted

3 tbsp cocoa powder

200g icing sugar

3-6 tbsp rum

dessicated coconut

*milk or cherry syrup

*optional:cherry compote, Kirsch liqueur

So there are two options: you can choose to make them with a cherry inside or just simply roll the dough into balls.

If you using the first option you need to drain the cherries in a sieve...leave it to rest to get rid of all  liquid. 

Mix the biscuit powder, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar (you can even add some dessicated coconut to the dough), rum-according to the audience (obviously if I prepare it for adults I add more, or even add some Kirsch liqueur:)) and as much liquid from the cherry syrup as much you need, to form a nice slightly sticky dough.

Sorry, but the amount of liquid you need depends on the type of biscuit you use, but approx 200ml. Take a piece of dough and roll it around the cherry and cover it with dessicated coconut.

If you only want to make small balls without the cherry: mix the powdered biscuit, butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar, some dessicated coconut, rum and add milk to the mix instead of cherry syrup.

It is easy to make, but I have to warn you, if you make the sherry option, it takes longer: I spent 1hour rolling them (although I was watching my favourite series in the meantime:))

Keep it in the fridge.

So about the name day:

"A name day is a tradition in many countries in Europe and Latin America that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name.

The custom originated with the Greek Orthodox calendar of saints and Roman Catholic calendar of saints, where believers, named after a particular saint, would celebrate that saint's feast day. In many countries, however, there is no longer any explicit connection to Christianity. It remains more popular in Southern and Eastern (Catholic and Orthodox) rather than in Northern (predominantly Protestant) Europe.

Hungary

Name days (in Hungarian: névnap) in Hungary are very popular, often as much as a person's actual birthdate. A woman is typically given flowers on her name day by acquaintances, including in the workplace, and the price of flowers often rises around the dates of popular names because of demand. A bottle of alcohol is a common gift for men on their name day. Children frequently bring sweets to school to celebrate their name days. Name days are more often celebrated than birthdays in workplaces, presumably because it is simpler to know the date since most calendars contain a list of name days. You can also find the name day on daily newspapers by the date and on Hungarian websites. Some highly popular names have several name days; in that case, the person chooses on which day he or she wishes to celebrate. The list of the name days is, as usual in name day celebrating cultures, based on the traditional Catholic saints' feasts, but the link of the secular name days calendar to the Catholic calendar is not maintained any more. For example, even religious Catholic people named Gergely (Gregory) after Pope Gregory the Great still celebrate their name days on 12 March, although the Church moved the feast of that saint to 3 September in 1969."

Embroidered "Russian" Cream Cake in Kalocsai Style (Kalocsai mintás Oroszkrém torta)

So...I haven't baked anything for a while as I was on holiday. We went back to Hungary for my brother's wedding and enjoyed the sunshine while we can:). During our stay one thing I come across time to time is the popularity of the embroidered clothes. Embroidery has a huge tradition in Hungary (even I used to do it with my grandmother when I was younger) but over time it become less and less popular...But it is 2012 and the embroidered clothes are back in fashion, specially the "Kalocsai" style, so I thought to make my own version of it: on a cake. The cake underneath is the traditional Hungarian "Russian" cream cake(Oroszkrém Torta)... although it has nothing to do with Russia. Between the two world wars the famous Oroszi Bakery invented this cake, but later it was know by the shortened name which translates to Russian in Hungarian....but it is a real Hungarian speciality. Sorry I should have put on red ribbon, but it was 11pm am and I didn't have any at home.

For the sponge:

6 eggs 

6 tbsp sugar

6 tbsp plain flour

For the cream:

1 Vanilla Pudding- you can buy them in polish shops *more on this product in the Tricks and Recommendations

4 dl milk

4 tbsp sugar

0.5-1dl rum

100g raisins

4 dl double cream

1 big tsp gelatin 

For the topping:

1 shop bought marzipan or royal icing

1 tbsp milk

60g butter

120g icing sugar

food colouring, edible gel pencil

But the traditional coating for this cake is whipped cream. for that you will need

2dl double cream 

1 tsp gelatin

Preheat the oven to 180C. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks. Still mixing add the egg yolks, 2 at the time, mix well between each addition and do the same with the sugar. Shift in the flour and carefully fold the flour into the mix until it is well incorporated. Don't rush this step, as if you break up the volume you created with the whipping, your sponge will be tiny and won't rise.

Pour it into a prepared 23cm cake tin and bake for 15-25 minutes or until golden brown and the inserted skewer comes out clean.

Leave it to cool, then slice it to three parts. I found that the cake leveller doesn't work with this kind of sponge, it is better if you use a big bread knife.

In the meantime you can prepare the cream as it needs chilling before filling.

Pour 3 dl of milk into a heavy based pan with the sugar and bring to boil under a medium heat. Mix the rest of the milk (1dl) with the pudding/budwyn powder to avoid lumps. When the milk is boiling, pour in the other milk and stir continuously. In 1-3minutes it should thicken and be custard like. Add in the raisins and leave it to cool.

Dissolve the gelatin in 0.5dl boiling water. Whip the double cream to stiff peaks and add in the dissolved gelatin- water.

Mix together the whipped double cream and the cooked "pudding", then add in the rum. Well the amount of rum you put in is up to you, but it shouldn't be overpowering, but it is nice to have the hint of rum in the cream. 

Rest the filling in the fridge until it starts to thicken so the gelatin starts to work.

When the filling is stiff, you can assemble the cake: sponge-cream X3, and finish it off with some cream. Traditionally you would finish with some whipped cream, but I wanted to practise my "embroidery" skills.

Therefore I rolled out the marzipan with some icing sugar, and covered the cake. Sadly you won't have a perfectly smooth cake, as the filling makes the cake soft....not the consistency for cake cover, but if you gentle you can have a nice enough flat surface.

I printed some motive from the Internet, and pace some baking paper on top to draw the replica image on it. I cut round the baking paper image and tried to transfer it on top of the marzipan. Roughly draw the edges, then lifting the paper...try to draw it...then back, lifting the baking paper...draw a line...so it took a while, but I get there in the end. I didn't have the exact picture just roughly the main lines. 

Then I prepared the butter cream icing. Mixing the soft butter with the icing sugar, if it is too stiff add 1 tbsp milk. Then I divided the butter cream and added the colouring. I made: yellow, orange, purple, blue, light green, dark green, pink, pale pink, red, deep red....

Then you just have to fill the "colouring book" with a small brush. In the end I added the ribbon, but it really should be red as that is the traditional colour for this type of motive....and if we are at that note, royal icing is better as it gives you white background, but I prefer the marzipan taste:)

And the inside is:

By the way the wedding was great and here is a photo I made on the Big day:

Summer Field Rainbow Cake

It is my sister's 14th birthday!!!!!! As she is staying with me for a month, we had the chance to prepare her cake together! I had this vision before...with the grass, flowers and the butterflies.....that hides a rainbow cake underneath. I have to say it all turned out very well, but I am not truly happy with the cake sponge. I used curd cheese filling and white cake recipe-apparently it is really popular in the US (I never heard about that before). White cake usually used in rainbow cake recipe, as you should leave out the egg yolks, that creates a white sponge-so easier to colour. Anyway I share the recipe...maybe it is just my baking abilities....

I know the food colouring isn't the best for us...but you only have Birthday once a year!

Summer Field Rainbow Cake

Nyári Mezővel borított Szivárvány Torta

For the sponge

290gr plain flour

250g sugar

150g butter/fat

300ml milk

3 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

1 tsp almond extract

5 egg whites

5 different food colouring

For the filling

150ml coconut milk

400g curd cheese

2 vanilla pod

60g dessicated coconut

85g cream cheese

100ml double cream

4 tbsp icing sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp Amaretto

green food colouring

For the butterflies and flowers

50g Gum paste/Flower paste

food colouring of your choice

For the grass

80g dessicated coconut

green food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the flour, sugar, butter,milk, baking powder, salt and almond extract. When it is all mixed add the egg whites and mix it again. Divide the mixture to 5 bowls and add the food colouring to each one. Line the cake tin with baking paper and bake each layer for 20 minutes or until the top springs back if you touch lightly with your fingertip.

In the meantime you can prepare the butterflies and flowers. Divide the flower paste to 3 parts. 

Colour two of them and roll them out on a flat surface. Using your butterfly and flower cutters cut out the shapes. Place the butterflies on a folded paper, so when they dry out and harden the wings will hold their shape.

For the cream mix together all the ingredients with an electric mixer.

You can start layering your cake. When all layers are covered with cream I added some green food colouring to the leftover, so when I cover the cake, the outside layer will be green (in case the dessicated coconut wouldn't cover all surface). 

For the grass simply put the dessicated coconut into a bowl and pour on top the green food colouring(as much as it turns the coconut to green) and start mixing with a silicon spoon to cover all shreds. When you are happy with the result, put the grass on top of the cream (the cream should stuck on the surface as it is wet).

Place on top the butterflies and the flowers....and you are ready. Keep the cake in the fridge.

And you can see the smile on her face when she blew out the candle.