Ingredients

Method

• 400 g butter, cubed
• 500 g good-quality white chocolate, chopped
• 250 ml water
• 440 g caster sugar
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
• 480 g self-raising flour
For the buttercream roses:
• 500 g butter, softened
• 2 kg icing sugar
• 250 ml milk
• 2 T good-quality cocoa

Method

Ingredients

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C.

2. Liberally grease a 15 cm x 10 cm cake tin and line with baking paper.

3. Place the butter, white chocolate and water in a large mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and allow the ingredients to melt. Remove from the heat.

4. Add the caster sugar and vanilla and stir to combine, then add the eggs and mix well.

5. Sift the flour and stir into the batter until well combined. Pour into the baking tin and bake for 2 hours, or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before carefully removing from the baking tin.

6. To make the buttercream roses, cream the butter using an electric hand-mixer while slowly adding the icing sugar, a little at a time. Add the milk and mix well.

7. Once all the icing sugar has been incorporated, divide the icing in half. Add the cocoa to the one batch of icing and stir to combine.

8. Insert a medium-sized star-shaped nozzle into a large piping bag. Fill the bag with both the chocolate and plain icing by spooning the plain icing down the one side of the bag and the chocolate icing down the other side.

9. Starting at the base of the cake, ice a rose by placing the nozzle close to the base of the cake, squeezing gently and moving from the inside outwards in a circular motion until the shape resembles a rose. Continue icing the cake until it is completely covered.