Spaghetti Meatballs Cake

This confection is based around the theme of something savoury that’s sweet. Meat the meatballs and spaghetti cake.

As my eldest boy turned 4 this week we had to celebrate with a party. However because his Birthday fell on a weekday it would have been difficult to get all the family together in the one place late in the evening so I had delayed his party until today, Sunday.

He wanted a cake and was very specific in his requirements.  This cake had to be all about his favourite film. “Meatballs” is what he calls it. However it’s full title is “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs”.  Imagine that, his favourite film revolves around the topic of food!

This cake is perhaps the quickest of all of my “speciality” cakes to make.  First of all you only bake 1 cake and you don’t fill it either.  Secondly you need zero sugarcraft or piping skills. Thirdly you don’t need to place it on a cake board or stand, it actually looks far better sitting in a large pasta bowl. I had intended to use a well known brand of chocolate truffles (favoured by ambassadors the world over, apparently) for the meatballs, however they were extremely expensive today.  If I could have afforded them I think the cake would have looked a little more effective.

Also I have 2 winners for those lovely hampers from Robert Roberts!  They were Frosty and Tracy Griffin.  If you both wouldn’t mind dropping me an email with your address and contact number details we can arrange for you to receive your lovely treats. Congratulations to you both!

Serving 12, there is quite an amount of sugar in the spaghetti meatball cake, but it appeals to the imagination.

Ingredients (for the cake)

• 110g Butter, softened
• 110g Caster Sugar
• 2 Medium Free Range Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 110g Plain Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder

Ingredients (for the decoration)

• 250g Unsalted Butter, softened
• 1kg Icing Sugar
• 50ml Whole Fat Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 3 tablespoons Raspberry or Strawberry Jam
• 15 Chocolate Truffles

Equipment

• Mixing Bowl or Stand Mixer
• Wooden Spoon
• Weighing Scales
• Victoria Sandwich Tin
• Baking Parchment (non stick)
• Scissors
• Butter & Flour (to grease and dust the tin)
• Cooling Rack
• Disposable Piping Bag
• Cereal Bowl
• Large Pasta Bowl

Method

1. Preheat your (fan) oven to 170 degrees celcius.
2. Line the base of your sandwich tin with parchment paper and use the butter and flour to grease the sides, this is very important.
3. Cut a piece of parchment paper and weigh the flour and baking powder onto it.
4. Weigh out the butter and sugar together and cream (beat) until light and fluffy.
5. Add 1 egg and beat until mixed.
6. Add the second egg and beat until well mixed. If it begins to look curdled add a spoonful of flour.
7. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix.
8. Pick up the baking parchment and pour the remaining flour into the mixing bowl.
9. Beat until all the ingredients are well combined.
10. Pour the cake batter into your baking tin and put the tin into the oven.
11. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.
12. Turn the oven off, remove the cake and leave it to stand in the tin for 10 minutes before tipping it out to cool on the cooling rack.
13. To make the “spaghetti” icing, beat the icing sugar, unsalted butter, milk and vanilla extract together until light and fluffy.
14. Spoon the icing into a disposable piping bag and cut a hole at the base that is approximately 1cm in diameter.
15. Put the cooled cake into the middle of a large pasta bowl and pipe swirls or squiggles of the icing up, down and around the cake to give the impression of pasta.
16. Make sure to build up the icing a little around the top edges of the cake so as to leave a well in the centre for the “meatballs”.
17. For these, put 3 tablespoons of jam into a cereal bowl, add the truffles and stir until they are well coated with the jam.
18. Spoon each ball carefully into the centre of the well of “spaghetti”.
19. This cake will keep for up to 3 days in a cool, dry place. However if you decide to do so perhaps all the meatballs with their sauce at the last minute as the jam can leach a little into the spaghetti.