A Leprechaun says Happy Birthday

I have to say, I'm a little proud of how this cake has turned out. My friend Katharina asked me if I could make a cake for her mother's birthday this weekend. Her mom is Irish so she wanted something typically Irish. Katharina and I have known each other since boarding school in Ireland so of course I said yes. She had already a cake in mind that she had seen on the internet (here) and for some reason she must have had a lot of confidence in me. Thank you Katzi for that, without your optimism I would never have attempted something like this! 

The cake was a simple pound cake with vanilla extract.

Pound cake (for a 15cm cake tin)

3 eggs

168g unsalted softened butter

165g sugar

2 table spoons vanilla sugar

165g all-purpose flour

1 table spoon baking powder

a pinch of salt

a dash of real vanilla extract for some extra vanilla taste

Sift together in a separate bowl the flour and the baking powder. Grease the cake tin.

Beat butter until light and fluffy, add the sugar and vanilla sugar and mix until almost dissolved. Add the eggs and at a time and mix until well combined before adding the next one (beat for about 30-60 seconds). Add the salt and vanilla extract. Add the flour in two lots and mix on low speed until just combined. Please don't overbeat it now because otherwise the mixture will toughen!

Fill the cake tin and bake at 175°C until the cake is golden brown, about 45 minutes. When you test the cake with a little wooden stick it comes out clean.

Let the cake cool on a rack before you start filling it.

I used green coloured vanilla buttercream.

Buttercream

200g unsalted softened butter 

300g icing sugar
a little dash of vanilla extract

green food colouring (I prefer gels)

Mix butter and icing sugar, add a little bit of vanilla extract and mix again, put a little bit of food colouring in it, mix it and if you think it needs more, add a little bit more food colouring.

Once the cake has cooled, cut it in three layers, fill the layers with buttercream.

I then covered it with rolled fondant and made the little leprechaun.

According to my friend, her mom loved the cake!