Ah, the famous Peppa Pig birthday cake! I couldn’t pass it up to celebrate the 4th birthday of my niece, a fan of George, yes indeed. She had been thinking about her cake for months, the little sweetheart! I can’t tell you the pressure 😀 Except that Peppa Pig, for me, is a bit of an unknown. I can picture the pig’s head (funny-looking heads if you want my opinion, by the way…) but that was about it. Given that I’m not a huge fan of cake design, I absolutely wanted to avoid the cake covered in sugar paste. So I went for a cake well known across the blogosphere: the pigs’ mud bath! I just had to replace the traditional little pink pigs with the Peppa Pig family and the job was done!
For the vanilla cake, I went for a safe bet for me, François Perret’s vanilla loaf cake (already used for the checkerboard cake rose cake style). An excellent cake with a lovely vanilla taste!!! And as children generally like chocolate, I simply made a ganache. I ran into a tiny problem when assembling (and cutting the cake into 3). Despite the fact that it had cooled well, I really had a lot of trouble cutting it into 3. I advise you, if you have the necessary equipment, to divide the batter between 3 tins of the same diameter to avoid this thankless task! Otherwise, never mind, I managed to muddle through in the end 😉 (or you can also use your favourite cake recipe: génoise sponge, loaf cake, soft cake…)
I used KitKats to surround the cake. It’s very simple and children generally like it, don’t they? With the little pigs in the middle (and the mum with her bottom in the air), it looks great, doesn’t it? 😀 My niece was DE-LIGHT-ED! And so were all the friends there that day, I’ve never made so many people happy at the same time (long live Peppa Pig!)
Ingredients & method
6 components · Full recipe
Sugar paste decorations (make the day before)
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Make the Peppa Pig family characters from fondant (pre-coloured or tinted with gel colouring), following the shapes of the characters. Leave to dry overnight at room temperature.
Vanilla cake
Ingredients
- 225 g (7.9 oz) butter
- 495 g (17.5 oz) sugar
- 3 eggs
- 3 vanilla pods
- 6 g (0.2 oz) salt
- 330 g (11.6 oz) heavy cream
- 420 g (14.8 oz) flour
- 9 g (0.3 oz) baking powder
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2
In a food processor, beat the softened butter with the sugar until pale and fluffy. Split and scrape the vanilla pods and add the seeds.
3
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the salt and heavy cream, then mix until combined.
4
Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in gently.
5
Butter and flour a 24 cm (9.4 in) diameter tin (or divide between 3 tins of the same size). Pour in the batter and bake for 1 hour, checking regularly with a skewer.
6
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before unmoulding.
Soaking syrup
Ingredients
- 25 g (0.9 oz) sugar
- 60 ml (2 fl oz) water
- 1 tablespoon rum
- 2 vanilla pods (already used above)
Method
1
Place the sugar, water and the vanilla pods used above in a small saucepan.
2
Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 15 minutes.
3
Add the rum and leave to cool completely.
Chocolate ganache
Ingredients
- 400 g (14.1 oz) dark chocolate
- 480 g (16.9 oz) heavy cream
- 80 g (2.8 oz) butter
- 1 pinch of fleur de sel
Method
1
Chop the chocolate and place in a bowl.
2
Bring the heavy cream to the boil, then pour over the chocolate in thirds, mixing well between each addition to create a smooth, shiny ganache.
3
Add the butter, cut into small pieces, and the fleur de sel. Mix until smooth.
4
Leave to cool at room temperature, then refrigerate until the ganache has a spreadable consistency.
5
Once at the right consistency, whip the ganache with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Assembly
Ingredients
- KitKat bars
- fondant (various colours)
- 1 ribbon
- 1 skewer
Method
1
The edges of the cake are often a little more baked, so I like to trim it with a ring slightly smaller than the tin (22 cm (8.7 in) diameter for a 24 cm (9.4 in) tin). Cut the cake into 3 even layers using a serrated knife.
2
Place the first layer on a cake board or plate. Brush generously with soaking syrup, then spread a layer of whipped ganache.
3
Place the second layer on top, brush with syrup and spread with ganache.
4
Place the third layer on top and cover the whole cake (top and sides) with the remaining ganache. Smooth with a palette knife or scraper.
5
Arrange the KitKat bars around the sides of the cake, pressing gently so they adhere. Tie a ribbon around the outside to hold them in place.
Decoration
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Spoon the remaining ganache into a piping bag and pipe swirls on top of the cake. Arrange the fondant Peppa Pig characters on top, using skewers to hold them upright if needed. Refrigerate until serving.
Gallery
