Fairy Bread Inspired Cake

I've been told that fairy bread is one of those distinctly Australian things which originated in Australia as a way to please children at parties and is now loved the world over.  I don't really know if such claims are true, but my Cheeky Monkeys certainly love fairy bread at parties!  So much so that oldest Monkey requested a fairy bread-inspired cake for her most recent birthday.

I'm not normally one to share decorated cake recipes, but I decided to share my recipe because of the amount of excitement this cake inspired in the party guests and their parents.  I went for a two layered fairy bread/jam sandwich concoction because I thought that a cake made to look like a slice of bread was too thin, and because my Monkeys ADORE jam sandwiches.  And I also chose to make a simple quick mix vanilla butter cake for the "bread", though you could go all out and make a white cake to mimic the white bread traditionally used in fairy bread.

Ingredients:

For One Cake (make two)

- 165g butter

- 1 cup milk

- 4 eggs

- 1 1/2 Tb vanilla essence

- 1 1/3 cups castor sugar

- 2 cups self-raising flour

Buttercream Icing and Decorations

- 125g unsalted butter

- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

- 1 Tb milk

- 100s and 1000s/sprinkles/jimmies/whatever you call nonpareils in your part of the world

- strawberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 180⁰C.  Grease and line a 23-25 cm square cake tin.

2. Combine butter and milk in saucepan; stir constantly over heat until butter is melted.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

3. Beat eggs and vanilla essence in a bowl with electric mixer until thick and creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating until dissolved between each addition.

4. Stir in half the sifted flour and half the butter mixture, then stir in remaining flour and butter mixture.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

5. Stand cake in tin for two minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.  Repeat steps 1-5 to make the second cake.

6. When the cakes are cold, slice the top off each cake to level out the cake and give a "bread slice" appearance.

7. To make the buttercream, beat the butter in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes).  Gradually add icing sugar, beating until well combined.  Beat in milk to loosen icing slightly.

8. Place first cake on your serving tray.  Generously spread strawberry jam over the top of the first cake, as you would when making a sandwich or jam on toast.

9. Top the first cake with the second cake, making sure that the cake is facing sliced side up to look like "bread".  Spread the buttercream icing over the top of the cake, leaving some space around the edges so the "bread" shows.  Sprinkle with nonpareils of your choice and wait for everyone's squeals of delight!