Ladybug cake

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 200 g butter, soft
• 160 g sugar
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch of lemon peel, grated
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 120 g sugar
• 280 g flour
• ½ pack of baking powder
• 100 ml milk, lukewarm
• Breadcrumbs for the mold
• 20 g cocoa powder
• 250 g raspberries
• 150 g yogurt (Greek, mixed with raspberry)
• 50 g honey
• 8 sheets of gelatin
• 300 ml cream
• 200 g chocolate coating (milk chocolate coating)
• 100 ml cream
• 250 g butter, soft
• 50 g powdered sugar
• 200 g fondant (rolled fondant), red
• 2 candies (Toffifee)
• 2 biscuits (Mikado)
• 1 handful of sweets (Smarties)
• 1 piece(s) food coloring, black, or charcoal tablets

Instructions

Working time approx. 3 hours; Rest time approx. 2 days 3 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Total time approx. 2 days 7 hours 20 minutes

with fondant, raspberry cream and chocolate buttercream

It’s best to prepare the bases two days before making the cake. Beat the softened butter for about 5 minutes. Mix the 160g sugar with the vanilla sugar, lemon zest, and egg yolks well. Mix with the butter. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until semi-stiff, then beat with 120g sugar until stiff peaks. Mix the flour with the baking powder and add to the butter and egg yolk mixture alternately with the milk and the egg whites. Carefully fold in with a wooden spoon. Grease a cake tin well with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Pour about half of the batter into the tin. Mix the remaining batter with cocoa powder. I mixed it with a little milk beforehand to avoid lumps. If you like, you can also mix in chocolate shavings. Pour the remaining batter into the tin. You can either leave it as it is or marble it by using a fork to create a spiral through the batter. Bake in a preheated oven at 160°C (convection oven) for about 60 minutes, or 180°C (conventional oven). Test with a skewer if the cake is cooked through. Let the cake cool slightly in the pan. Turn it out onto parchment paper dusted with granulated sugar and let it cool. Cut the cake in half crosswise. While it’s baking, prepare the raspberry cream: Puree almost all of the raspberries and mix well with the yogurt and honey. Soak the gelatin in cold water. Whip the cream until stiff. Squeeze out the gelatin and dissolve it in a small bowl over a hot water bath. Mix it with some of the raspberry mixture. Then fold it into the remaining mixture. Fold the cream into the raspberry mixture. I added a few drops of food coloring. Place the cream in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours until the mixture is firm. Then whisk again and spread it on the cake, leaving some space around the edges. If you like, you can also press whole raspberries into the cream; frozen raspberries are best. Fill the cake layers with the raspberry cream and stack them on top of each other. Chill. For the chocolate buttercream, bring 100 ml of cream to a boil in a saucepan. Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl. Pour over the hot cream, wait about 2 minutes, and then mix gently. Meanwhile, beat the butter with the powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in the slightly cooled chocolate and beat well again. Spread it evenly over the cake so that neither the cake nor the raspberry cream is visible. Refrigerate overnight. The next day, the chocolate buttercream will be firm and can be shaped into a dome. Then chill again before adding the fondant. Knead the rolled fondant in your hand until soft. If it sticks, add a little powdered sugar to your hands. Sprinkle the work surface with powdered sugar and roll out the fondant evenly to the desired size. Carefully place it on the cake and smooth it down. Trim off any excess fondant. For the head, mix a small amount of fondant with a crushed charcoal tablet, form it into a ball, and roll it out into an oval shape. To help the head adhere to the body, lightly moisten it with water and stick it on. Too much water will loosen the fondant. Firmly press in the Toffifees for the eyes and the Smarties for the dots. Pre-drill holes for the Mikado antennae with a wooden skewer. If you refrigerate the ladybug cake, we recommend placing two small bowls of salt next to it, as the fondant will absorb water, run, or start to “sweat.”