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Preparation and cooking time

Prep:

Cook:

Plus cooling and chilling

Create a cake with the wow factor with our colourful ombre mermaid. It's a baking challenge but makes a magical party cake for kids and grown-ups alike

Ingredients

For the icing

700g icing sugar

350g butter , softened

Blue or purple gel food colouring

edible pearls and silver sprinkles, or extra optional decoration

For the mermaid tails (or use shop-bought fondant mermaid tails)

You will need

mermaid tail mould and small shell moulds, available online

Method

STEP 1

If you're making the mermaid tails, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl in 20-second bursts in the microwave, stirring after each turn. Pour into the tail moulds and small shells, and put on a small tray flat in the freezer for 15-20 mins until set. You can repeat this for four tails if you only have one mould.

STEP 2

Once set, remove from the mould, mix the lustre with ¼ tsp of water and paint it onto the mermaid tails (see tip, below). Put back on a plate or tray in the freezer until needed.

STEP 3

Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter and line the base of three 18cm sandwich cake tins with baking parchment. Using a stand mixer or electric hand whisk, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, baking powder and flour until you have a fluffy mix.

STEP 4

Divide the mixture evenly between three bowls and mix a few drops of colouring into each bowl until fully combined, making each bowl a different shade of purple, getting lighter. Pour each coloured sponge mix into separate tins and smooth over the tops. Bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. After 10 mins, remove the cakes from their tins and transfer to a cooling rack, top-side facing down, and leave to cool. Don't worry if the outside doesn't look purple, the inside will!

STEP 5

While the cake is cooling, make the icing. Beat together the icing sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, mixing in 1 tbsp warm water to loosen the mixture if necessary. Set half of the icing aside in a bowl. Divide the other half of the icing between three bowls and colour each a different shade of blue, a dark, medium and light. Stack the sponges, spreading most of the white icing over each one using a palette knife, then use the palette knife to roughly coat the outside of the cakes with the remaining white icing to create a crumb coat. Chill for 30 mins.

STEP 6

Put each of the blue icing shades in separate piping bags and cut a large 2cm hole at the bottom. Starting with the dark shade at the bottom of the cake, pipe an even ring onto the whole cake, two-three times around. Continue working your way up the cake with the icing getting lighter as you reach the top of the cake. Using a small palette knife, work your way around the join in between each row, gently pushing to join each line together. Save some icing in the piping bags to decorate the top. Smooth over the cake with a large palette knife or cake scraper to create a smooth ombre icing, keeping the excess to decorate the top.

STEP 7

You can either mix all the leftover icing together and put in a clean piping bag with a star nozzle to get a multicoloured effect, or pipe individual shades on the top. Add a few dots around the top of the cake in the varying blue colours to look like waves (using some of the white to look like the top of a crashing wave), and dot around the pearls, sprinkles, shells and mermaid tails, pushing them into the icing on the side of the cake, and on top to finish.

RECIPE TIPS

MAKE METALLIC COLOURS

You can make different metallic colours by mixing gold lustre with a little water and a drop tiny of food colouring.

Goes well with

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Rating: 5 out of 5. 5 ratings Rate loading... Magazine subscription - save 44% and get a cookbook of your choice Preparation and cooking time Prep: Cook: Plus cooling and chilling Create a cake with the wow factor with our colourful ombre mermaid.

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Chef Gary Lee uses lamb and beef mince in The Ivy's infamous shepherd's pie recipe. The combination elevates it from a humble dish to a hybrid between two comfort foods - cottage and shepherd's pie.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories

662kcals

Fat

35.3g (16.5g saturated)

Protein

34.9g

Carbohydrates

43.4g (8.6g sugars)

Fibre

6.4g

Salt

1g

Nutrition: per serving

Calories

662kcals

Fat

35.3g (16.5g saturated)

Protein

34.9g

Carbohydrates

43.4g (8.6g sugars)

Fibre

6.4g

Salt

1g

Ingredients

400g British lean lamb mince

400g good quality British beef mince

Sunflower oil for frying

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 fresh thyme sprigs, leaves picked

200g button mushrooms, quartered

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

1 tbsp tomato purée

400g can chopped tomatoes

150ml red wine

2 tbsp plain flour

4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

300ml fresh veal stock (from some supermarkets; if you can't find it use fresh beef stock)

3 fresh oregano sprigs, leaves picked and chopped

For the topping

1kg potatoes (king edward or maris piper), chopped into equal chunks

50g unsalted butter

50g strong cheddar, grated

Method

1. Put the lamb and beef mince in a large bowl, drizzle with a little oil, then mix well with your fingers. Heat a large frying pan until smoking, then cook the meat, mixing continuously, for about 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer the meat and juices to a bowl.

2. In the same pan, heat a little oil, then gently cook the shallots, thyme, mushrooms and carrots for about 8 minutes. Return the mince and juices to the pan, then mix in the tomato purée. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and red wine, then bubble to reduce for about 10 minutes. Add the flour and mix well, then add the worcestershire sauce and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, taste and add more worcestershire sauce if needed. Add the oregano, then set aside.

4. Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ gas 4. Cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling salted water, covered with a lid, for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain in a colander, then return to the pan and set over a gentle heat to remove any excess moisture. Take off the heat. Using a masher or potato ricer, thoroughly mash the potatoes, then mix in the butter and season to taste.

5. Spoon the meat mixture into a 2 litre ovenproof dish or 6 x 300ml individual ovenproof dishes. Top with the mashed potato (you can pipe this if you want to be cheffy), then sprinkle with the cheese. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden and piping hot.

delicious. tips

1. At The Ivy they serve the shepherd's pie with a side of buttered peas and carrots.

2. Chill the assembled pie, covered, for up to 48 hours, or freeze for up to a month and defrost, then bake as in step 5.

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Recipe By

Find out more about The Ivy chef, Gary Lee.

More food for thought...

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Special shepherd's pie recipe | delicious. magazine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chef Gary Lee uses lamb and beef mince in The Ivy's infamous shepherd's pie recipe. The combination elevates it from a humble dish to a hybrid between two comfort foods - cottage and shepherd's pie.