Party Time: Hundreds and Thousands Sprinkles Layer Cake

Nothing says it's party time like 100s and 1000s.  And I've had two awesome reasons to celebrate lately.

1) I passed my finals exams for medicine. Wooohoooo! One more year as an intern left before becoming a real doctor. Beyond exciting.

2) A week ago, I turned the big three-oh. I gotta say, the dirty thirties are awesome!

We had a 3 day non-stop eating bonanza.  I am not even kidding - we did high tea lunch, byo dinner, ice cream and pancakes brunch, all you can eat meat Brazilian churrasco lunch, Chinese banquet dinner, and rounded off with a buffet diy sushi brunch. Food, food, and more food. It was glorious.

All weekend I was surrounded by food, friends, family. New friends, old friends. Breaking bread with the people who had known me the longest and knew me the best. I had never felt more loved or more blessed. The whole time I had just one thought running through my head: this is what happiness is.

{sprinkles = happiness}

You know, I’d always thought that once you had reached 30, you’d be all grown up and do proper adult things. As it turns out some things have most definitely changed:

• most of my friends now have a kiddo or two;
• an awesome Friday night is home with the hubby watching Sherlock; and
• I’ve started using eye cream.

But some things stay exactly the same:

• we all still crack up at dirty jokes;
• we still love giving each other stick; and
• I’m still at uni (sigh).

Not to mention even at the ripe old age of 30 we all still think 100s and 1000s equals happiness and parties. So to mark my 30th, to celebrate passing exams and because I am clearly 30 going on 3, I made a Hundreds and Thousands Layer Cake.

One can never be too old for sprinkles.

This cake was a mission to make. 

The first obstacle was the layers. I had originally thought I could use my go to chocolate cake recipe for the four layers but found that it didn't quite have enough height so at the last minute had to reach for the emergancy box cake mix to provide the other two layers.

And then there were the 100s and 1000s.

 

The tutorials I looked up suggested book-ending the cake with round cake boards and rolling the iced cake in a tray of sprinkles.  Cool, sounds easy enough right? Not.

The cake boards I bought ended up being just a bit too big with an overhang that meant the cake was rolling in air rather than sprinkles.  We desperately tried having C hold the cake on its side as I poured sprinkles over it, but the cake kept slipping down and off the cake boards.  In the end, we pretty much had to throw sprinkles at the cake and hoped some stuck. 

Luckily, with the frosting being covered in sprinkles like that makes it pretty forgiving - you just smoodge it back into place if it's looking a bit misshapen.

So a massive mission but absolutely worth it.

If you do end up making this cake, just be warned: one week on, loads of vacuuming later, we are still finding hundreds and thousands in our kitchen. They go EVERYWHERE.

The cake was a total hit with the crowd.  The chocolate cake is fudgey and moist and the vanilla frosting was fluffy and creamy and not too sweet. And the sprinkles - I mean really, who doesn't like 100s and 1000s?

Hundreds and Thousands Sprinkles Layer Cake

Serves a crowd (at least 40 people)

Chocolate layer cake (4 layers)

4 cups flour
3 1/2 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp vegetable shortening
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup water
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups sour cream (~500g)

1. Prepare four loose bottomed 23cm round cake tins by spraying well with baking spray and dusting lightly with cocoa (you can line the bottoms with a circle of baking paper if your pans tend to stick). Preheat oven to 170oC fan bake making sure the racks are in the middle.

2. Place flour, caster sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Rub in shortening until it resembles bread crumbs.

3. Make a well in the centre and add eggs, oil, water, vanilla, and sour cream.

4. Beat with an electric beater on high for 2 minutes to incorporate.  Distribute the cake mixture evenly between the four cake tins.

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes turning once (top rack cakes to bottom).  Cakes are done when a skewer in the middle comes out clean. Cool cakes for around 5-10 minutes in the tin before turning out on a wire rack to cool completely.

Note:

• You can substitue the sour cream for 2 cups half and half + 2 Tbsp lemon juice.
• If your oven is small and doesn't have fan like mine, make half the mixutre first and then do the second half and set the oven to 180oC.

Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream

Makes just enough frosting for 4 layer cake (or 20-30 cupcakes)
Note: Next time I might make a little more than this just so I can get more in between the layers.

360g salted butter, very soft, room temperature
4 cups icing sugar, sifted
3 Tablespoons cream
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the clear stuff if you want to have very white frosting)
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Beat butter till pale and has a whipped fluffy texture. Sift in icing sugar 1 cup at a time and beat in till well mixed.

2. Beat in vanilla, salt, and cream until fluffy.

Assembling the cake

~ 1-2 cups rainbow sprinkles/100s and 1000s
2 cake boards smaller than your cake tins.
pallet knife
large tray
lots of patience + a good vaccum cleaner

1. Assemble the layers: Take a small dollop of frosting and place it in the centre of one cake board to act as glue. Take the completely cooled cake layers and place the first on top of the cake board with frosting.  Spread a thinnish layer of frosting on top. Place the second layer on top - try positioning the thicker bits of the top layer with the flatter bits of the bottom layer so it all levels out. Repeat the process until you get to the top layer. Spread a thinnish layer of frosting on top and level it out.

2. Crumb layer: Separate out around 1.5 cups of the frosting for the crumb layer (so you don't get crumbs on the final frosting). Spread a thin layer all over the sides and top of the cake. Refridgerate for at least 15 minutes to firm up.

3. Frosting layer: Use the remaining frosting and spread a thick layer all over the sides and top of the cake. Reserve some for the top at the end.

4. Sprinkles: pour the sprinkles into your baking tray to get a layer.  Place the second cake board on top of the cake. Very carefully roll the cake sideways in the sprinkles, pouring some on top as needed. When you have the sides sufficiently covered, put the cake upright again and take off the top cake board.  Use the remaining frosting to smooth out the top. Pour sprinkles on top.  Fix up the sides just by shaping with your hands, scooping more sprinkles and pressing lightly as needed.