Makings of a Cake Slice Cake.

As promised, how to make a cake slice cake and also the recipe for a yummy orange and poppy seed cake. I hope it all makes sense.

This was another one of those recipes that said just to put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together, can anyone tell me if doing it this way would give the same results?

Not knowing and not wanting a poorly mixed cake I made this cake the way I would most cakes, it turned out perfectly. The recipe I found was for an orange cake, I just added the poppy seeds at the end.

I used double the following recipe to make two 8 inch square cakes. I was left with quite a lot of cake off cuts, but boyfriend was happy to help get rid of those.

Orange Poppy Seed Cake
(Adapted from The essential Baking Cookbook)

2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup custard powder
1 1/3 cup caster sugar
80 grams softened butter
3 eggs
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup poppy seeds

To make the cake- preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. Lightly grease and flour the cake tin.

Sift flour and custard powder together into a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in half of the sifted flour, followed by half the juice. Repeat with remaining flour and juice, mixing until smooth. Stir through the zest and poppy seeds.

Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Bake the cake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake come out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool in tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.


Orange Buttercream
80 grams unsalted softened butter
2 ½ cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon orange juice
3 teaspoons orange zest

To make the Frosting- beat the butter in a medium bowl until it is pale.

Gradually beat in the icing sugar (remove 5 tablespoons of buttercream before adding the orange and reserve for piping) followed by the orange juice and zest. Continue beating until frosting is light and fluffy.

To Decorate
2 8inch square cakes
1.5 kg fondant
Red, yellow, green and pink food colouring
Lemon flavouring
13 inch round cake board
wooden skewer


Day 1
Colour enough fondant to make 2 strawberries with dark red food dye. Shape fondant into strawberries, using a toothpick press in small holes to look like pips. Colour a small amount of fondant green and shape to resemble the green top of the strawberry, secure with a dampened paintbrush.


To make the candle, roll out a thin rope of white fondant and twirl around a wooden skewer. For the flame colour a small ball of fondant orange and shape into a tear drop. Press the flame onto the top of the candle skewer.

For the flowers, colour a small amount of the fondant pink and roll out thinly. Using a small flower cutter, cut out a bunch of pink blossoms. I used various spoons to shape my flowers.


Cover the cake board with a thin layer of white fondant. For the painted plate details mix together a few drops of pink colouring and ½ a teaspoon of lemon flavouring. Paint a pin ring around the outside of the cake board followed by another around 2 inches in. Using a fine paintbrush paint on the flower detail.


Allow to dry overnight.

Day 2
To shape the cakes make a slice template out of baking paper.
Cut the tops off each of the cakes leaving a flat surface.
Lay the template on the cake and trim to shape.
With a pastry brush, brush all excess crumbs off the cake.


Sandwich the 2 cake halves together with a layer of buttercream, spread the remaining frosting in an even layer over the rest of the cake.
Carefully place the frosted cake onto the cake board.


To decorate the cake colour a third of the remaining fondant light yellow and roll out thinly. Cut shapes and cover the flat sides of the cake. Form a few cake crumb shapes out of any leftover yellow icing

Set aside a small amount of the let over fondant, colour the remaining pink. Roll the pink fondant out thinly and cut to cover the curved back and top of the cake. Cut out a number of various sized tear drops from the pink fondant. Attach the pink drips to the side of the cake using a damp paintbrush.

Roll the set aside white fondant into a thin rope and use to form loops on the back of the cake.

Using a large star tip, pipe swirls of white buttercream onto the top of the cake.

Paint two lines of white buttercream and red food colouring onto the sides of the cake.

For the finishing touches place the strawberries crumbs and flowers, securing with a little buttercream or royal icing. Carefully skewer the candle into the top of the cake.


Now step back and admire what you’ve made, poke your sleeping boyfriend awake and happily show him the cake.