Pudsey Bear Cake Recipes

PUDSEY BEAR CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4, butter and line the base of two 20cm spring-form cake tins with baking parchment.
• Using an electric whisk, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Crack the eggs in one at a time and whisk well, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the lemon zest, vanilla, flour, milk and a pinch of salt. Whisk until just combined then divide the mixture between the two tins.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. After 10 mins remove the cakes from their tins and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
• While the cakes cool, stir together the icing sugar, butter and milk for the filling. Once roughly mixed switch to using electric beaters until smooth and pale. When the cake is cold spread one third of the buttercream over one of the sponges and top with the jam. Smooth it over evenly then top with the other sponge. Spread the buttercream all over the outside of the sandwiched cake in an even thin layer and chill in the fridge until needed.
• Dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out 250g white fondant so that it is big enough to cover the cake. Lay it over the chilled cake, smooth down the surface and trim off any excess. Now roll out the black sugar paste so it's approx. 5mm thick then cut into the shape of Pudsey's head (it's easier to do this if you draw a template first then draw around it). Use a little buttercream or water to stick this on top of the cake. Roll out the yellow sugar paste and cut a slightly smaller version of Pudsey's head to stick on top in the same way so that the black sugar paste becomes the outline.
• Roll out the remaining fondant to make the eyepatch, nose, mouth and eye and eyebrow and stick all the pieces on with a little bit of water. Use coloured sugar paste or writing icing to create polka dots on the eye patch. Use a clean paintbrush dipped in water to remove any excess icing sugar from your design. Will keep covered for 2-3 days in a cool place.

SPOTTY PUDSEY CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Apart from the hundreds & thousands, beat all the cake ingredients together in a large bowl, using an electric whisk, until fully combined and smooth. Quickly but gently stir through the hundreds & thousands - don't mix too much or the colour from them will bleed. (To get the spotty effect in the sponge, you won't be able to use naturally dyed hundreds & thousands as the colour will bleach out during cooking. We used Wilton Rainbow Sprinkles available from Amazon.)
• Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 15-18 mins, until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool a little in their tins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• On a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, roll out the yellow fondant and cut out a 20cm circle - use the loose base of a sandwich tin as a guide. Brush the top of one of the cakes with a little raspberry jam and pop the fondant circle on top. Roll out the coloured icings in turn and cut out small circles - you could use the wide end of a piping nozzle for this. Dot a small amount of jam under each circle and arrange on top of the yellow fondant.
• To make the filling, tip the cream and lemon curd into a large bowl and whip by hand to a soft peak. Sandwich the cakes together with remaining raspberry jam, topped with a layer of lemon cream.