Ombre buttercream iced amasi cake with a brandy snap crown

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease 3 x 15 x 10 cm baking tins.

To make the vanilla cake, place the butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat.

Once the sugar has dissolved and the ingredients are incorporated, allow the mixture to cool slightly before whisking in the amasi.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the beaten eggs, to the honey mixture. Mix well, then pour into a baking tin and bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

To make the coffee cake, repeat the method above and add the coffee mixture to the cake batter and incorporate. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

To make the chocolate cake, melt the butter, sugar and honey as for the vanilla cake. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together and add, alternating with the beaten egg, to the honey mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

To make the icing, place the butter in a large mixing bowl and cream using an electric hand-mixer. Slowly add the icing sugar while beating until all the icing sugar is incorporated. Add the milk. Divide the icing into 5 portions. Mix the vanilla extract into 3 portions of icing, the coffee into 1 portion and sift the cocoa into the remaining portion. You should have 1 coffee icing, 1 chocolate icing and 3 portions of vanilla icing.

To assemble the cake, place one of the cakes onto a cake stand and lightly spread with a layer of vanilla icing using a large palette knife. Top with another layer of cake and do the same. Top with the final layer of cake.

Thinly ice the outside and top of the cakes with more vanilla icing, taking care not to use it all. This is called crumb coating and is done to ensure no crumbs come off the layers of cake when you do the final icing.

Chill the cake for 10 minutes. Remove from the fridge and ice the top of the cake with the coffee icing, smoothing it with the palette knife. Ice the middle of the cake with the remaining vanilla icing, and the base with the chocolate icing.

Using the palette knife, smooth the three colours together, allowing them to blend slightly to create an ombre effect.

To make the brandy snap crown, preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the butter, treacle sugar and golden syrup into a small saucepan over a medium heat. Gently heat until the butter has just melted and the sugar has dissolved. Sift in the flour and ginger and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the mixture onto a silicone baking mat on a baking tray and spread out evenly using a palette knife. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden.

Remove the tray from the oven and immediately remove the brandy snap from the baking mat using a palette knife and wrap around a large glass. Hold in place until it has cooled and hardened. While the brandy snap is still warm it can be moulded by hand, but as soon as it firms up it will become too brittle to handle. Once hardened, place the brandy snap crown on top of the cake.

Cook’s note: Crumb coating refers to thinly icing the cake to form a “primer” layer. It helps the final layer of icing to stick to the cake and creates a smoother effect. If you can’t find amasi, use buttermilk instead.

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