Two Tier Ricotta sponge cake

A. For the cake
Ingredients-
1. Self raising flour.( already has baking powder in it)- 2 cup
2. castor sugar- 1 cup
3. Eno- 1/2 tsp
4. Milk/water- 1 cup
5. Oil- 1/4 cup
6. Vanilla/ pineapple essence- 1 tsp
7. Yellow colour- 3-4 drops (optional)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375 F for 10 minutes
2. Mix all the dry powders first- flour, sugar, eno.
3. Mix the liquids- Milk, oil, essence, colour.
4. Add flour little by little and mix.
5. Whisk till bubbles appear and it is soft and creamy.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or till toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out dry.

Serves- 20-25 depending on the size of the serve.

After the cake has cooled. Cut in half and fill with Ricotta cheese icing. Then join the two halves and decorate with butter cream icing and roses as shown in the picture.

B.Ricotta Cheese icing
Ingredients
1. Ricotta cheese- 2 cups
2. Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
3. Honey/maple syrup- 3-4 tbsp

Method
1. Mix all the above in a blender/ food processor till smooth.
This recepe makes enough for a 9x 13 inch cake

C.Butter cream Icing
Ingredients
1. Butter- 1/3 cup
2. Salt-1/4 tsp
3. Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
4. Sifted confectioners Sugar- 3 1/2 cup or 1 pound.
5. Milk/water/light cream- 3-4 tbsp
6. Pink colour for roses, Juniper green for leaves

Method for Icing
1. Cream butter , salt, vanilla with electric hand mixer.
2. Add sugar gradually
3. Add 3 tbsp milk/water or light cream
4. Beat till smooth.
5. Beat more milk till desired consistency.( For Roses you need firm consistency, for leaves and basket weave pattern you need little smooth consistency) (We dont use Meringue powder in icing as it has eggs.)

C. Decorating
Make Roses- Use tip 12 and tip 104. Make roses 2-7 days in advance.
Make leaves- use tip 352. Pipe them in the end.
Make Basket weave pattern  on the sides of the cake - using tip 47.( Variation- you can combine tip 47 serrated side for horizontal lines and tip 7 for vertical lines) before putting the roses and leaves.

Serve to the Lord and distribute the sweetness.

Meena Samtani