Jack O'Lantern Pinata Cake

Bake and decorate your own stunning party Jack O'Lantern pinata cake centrepiece using the MasterClass Fluted Ring Cake Tin and our recipe and how to guide.

Cake Ingredients

Makes 2 x 25cm 

• 2 x 500g plain flour
• 2 x 2.5tsp baking powder
• 2 x 450g caster sugar
• 2 x 450g soft butter
• 2 x 8 eggs
• 2 x 60ml milk

Decorating Ingredients

• 400g icing sugar
• 200g soft butter 
• Splash of milk
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1kg white sugarpaste icing
• 500g black sugarpaste icing
• Green and orange gel paste colours
• Green decorative icing glitter (optional, non-edible)
  
  

Baking Method

• Grease the cake tin with butter and pre-heat the oven to 160°c
• Add one portion of the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and mix well to combine using a hand or stand mixer
• Add the mix to the tin and bake for 1¾ - 2 hours, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in its tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely
• Wash the cake tin and then repeat the steps above to make and bake the second cake

Decoration Method

• Roll out the black sugarpaste and cover the cake drum. Set aside to allow the icing to harden
• Beat the icing sugar and butter together with the vanilla extract to make a vanilla buttercream. Add a splash of milk if the mixture is too stiff. Beat in a small amount of orange gel paste colouring to achieve a 'pumpkin' colour
• Trim the 2 cakes to level them off (set the cake trimmings aside to be used later) and then secure the (rounded) base of one cake to a thin 8" cake board with a small amount of buttercream icing. Sandwich the flat edges of the two cakes together with the buttercream.
• Fill the hole in the centre of the two stacked cakes with your choice of sweets and then use the cake trimmings to fill the gap at the top and cover the sweets. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of buttercream and chill in the refrigerator for around 40 minutes

• Whilst the cake is chilling, colour all but 250g of the white sugarpaste icing with the orange gel colouring. When the cake has chilled, brush it lightly with cooled boiled water (to make the buttercream slightly sticky again) and then roll the sugarpaste out into a circle large enough to cover the top and sides of the cake in one piece. Carefully lift the sugarpaste onto the cake and use your hands to smooth it down. Your cake should now be starting to look like a pumpkin!
• Use your finger to rub 'grooves' down the side of the cake to resemble the natural shape of a pumpkin (see image below). Use a flat-bladed dinner knife to mix a little water into a 20g ball of black sugarpaste icing until it reaches a chewing-gum consistency. Use it as a 'glue' to attach the base of the thin cake board to the centre of the covered cake drum 
• Colour the remaining 250g of sugarpaste green using the gel colour and set half of it to one side. Mix the other half with some leftover orange sugarpaste to turn it brown and then model the brown sugarpaste into a stalk for your pumpkin. Attach to the top of the cake with a dab of water or edible glue and add a few tendrils if desired (see image)
• Roll out the remaining black sugarpaste and use a knife and/or cutters to make features for your Jack O Lantern. Attach them to the cake using a dab of water or edible glue
• Roll out the remaining green sugarpaste and use alphabet cutters to cut out the words 'Trick or Treat' (or your own alternative) and attach to the covered cake board in front of your cake using water or edible glue. Dust the letters with the glitter if desired