At 32 weeks, my sister in law had a baby shower and I made the cake! I came across this cake a few weeks before and instantly fell in love with it. Here's the original link http://www.icedjems.com/2012/07/buttons-cake/
I never intended on following the recipe but as it turns out, the way I made it anyway is the same which I realised after I had made the cakes. The difference I did make though was that I made my cake peppermint flavoured and coloured the sponge green. I had originally intended on making an orange flavoured cake but when I went to buy my candy melts*, I could only get dark blue. I bought white to lighten the blue to baby blue but could only get mint flavoured white candy melts. So I changed the whole cake to mint flavoured and coloured the sponge to add to the mint effect as we eat with our eyes too!
*Candy melts - what are they? They're mainly a combination of sugars and vegetable fats. They look and react a bit like chocolate but they're very very sweet. They set quite quick once melted and are mainly used to make cake pops. This page is an interesting read about them http://bakingbites.com/2012/10/what-are-candy-melts/
You can buy them in Hobbycraft, but I got mine from my local cake decorating supplier.
I've seen the button mould several times before and just love it. It's very cute! I got mine off eBay (gotta love eBay) and I know I'll use it again and again.
Making the buttons is time consuming depending how many you need but it's really easy. All you need to do is melt the candy melts in the microwave. I melted about 1/5th of the packet at a time as this was about the amount needed to fill the mould once. I just put them into my small Pyrex jug and blast on high for 30 seconds, stir, blast, stir, blast etc until they're melted. A rubber spatula is great here to pour them into a piping bag, snip the end off and squeeze into the mould. I guess you could fill the mould without a piping bag, but it would get everywhere! The candy melts melt to a thicker consistency than chocolate - top tip - if you want it runnier (it definitely needs to be runnier to make cake pops), then add in some vegetable oil little by little until you get a consistency you want.
To speed up the setting time, I popped into the freezer for about 6-7 minutes then they pop out easily and set. I repeated this 3 more times with blue and then 4 times for the pink to get enough buttons for the cake. I did have a few left over so I could have got away with filling the mould 3 times for each colour.
The cake assembly itself is easy as there's no fondant involved - yeeehaaaaaa :D
I made buttercream (I can't say how much I made as I made extra for some other cakes), but the original recipe says 3 cups worth. It's important you make the buttercream with at least 50% butter. I often make my buttercream with margarine, but here you definitely need butter for taste and also because it sets harder.
Place one of your larger cakes on your cake board and fill with your filling choice (I used buttercream but you could use ganache, jam or anything you like). Add the next cake and fill then add the final cake and top with buttercream. The whole cake then needs covering with buttercream. I did a thin layer as if I were crumb coating then I added more on top. I then placed three dowels in the cake to support the cake above
Do the same for the smaller cakes (on a thin cake board) but you don't need to put buttercream on the top as it's being covered with ganache and place on top of the larger cake.
For the ganache, heat the cream then add the chocolate, leave a few minutes then stir until it's all combined and melted. As this makes a thick hard set ganache you need to get your timing right. You need it cool enough so it's not very very runny but warm enough so it's still pipeable. Leave it too long and it will be too stiff. When it's how you want it for piping, fill a piping bag and go crazy! Cover the top letting it drip down the sides, or force it down a bit if it's a bit thicker by this stage. Pipe between the two cakes and let it drip down again. You can add some to the cake board base as well if you want. Then add the buttons to the base, the middle and the top, arranging how you want.
At this stage my cake was very wobbly and I was a bit worried but just pop it in the fridge and the ganache hardens to act like a glue between the two cakes and the butter in the buttercream sets too to harden and support the cake
I love this cake, it's easy to make and very effective. And very very cute!
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