Neapolitan Cake

In Great British Bake Off style, say hello to my show stopper, the Neapolitan cake. As we enter sunnier times, nothing beats having an ice cream to cool yourself down and that's where this three layered beauty comes in to play. Neapolitan ice cream takes on three classic flavours; chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. I have recreated the classics and turned them into a summer show stopper that is sure to impress your friends and family. The cake is made up of three light chocolate sponges, each separated with chocolate, vanilla and strawberry frosting. There is also raspberry jam between the layers because you can't have ice cream without a little raspberry sauce...

Plus, it goes really well with the chocolate sponge.

Neapolitan Cake
235g Butter
235g Caster Sugar
6 Eggs
235g Self- Raising Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

100g Raspberry Jam

250g Butter, room temperature
250g Icing Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
25g Dark chocolate, melted
1 1/2 Tsp Strawberry Essence
Pink Food Gel/Colouring

Preheat the oven to 160C, gas mark 3. Line and grease 3 20cm sandwich tins. 

The basic cake recipe is really simple and easy, place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together using an electric mixer for five minutes until all the ingredients are well combined.  

Place the mixture equally into the prepared tins and place in the oven for 25 minutes, until just starting to come away from the sides or when a skewer comes out clean. Once cooked, leave in the tins to cool down before transferring onto a cooling rack. 

Once cooled, use a cake leveller or a sharp knife and level out the top of each sponge to make a straight flat surface. 

To make the frosting, place the butter into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer and whisk until the butter is pale, this will take around five minutes. Add in half of the sugar and whisk until combined. Add in the remaining icing sugar and whisk on a high speed until it is very light and fluffy, it will look white. This should take around five - 10 minutes. 

Equally separate the frosting into three bowls. Add the vanilla extract to one bowl and whisk until combined. 

Add the melted chocolate to another bowl and whisk until combined. 

Add the strawberry essence and a small amount of pink food colouring, just so it is baby pink, and whisk until well combined. 

Place each of the frostings into disposable piping bags with large star nozzles attached. 

Place one layer of cake onto a cake board. Use half of the raspberry jam and spread it across the top of the cake then using the chocolate frosting, pipe a circle from the outside to the centre of the layer, until you have covered the surface with an even amount of frosting.

Carefully position the next cake layer on top, then repeat with the jam and the vanilla frosting.

Add the final cake layer on top and repeat the piping process with the strawberry frosting, you do not need jam for this layer.