Cake pop cake

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease the cake pop mould with a little oil.

Cake pops

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold in the sifted flour. Carefully add the food colouring until you achieve the desired shade.
2. Put dessertspoonfuls of mixture into the bottom of the cake pop mould (mounded). Carefully place on the cake pop mould lid.
3. Bake on a baking tray for 20 minutes. Remove the top mould and leave to cool for 30 minutes.

Main cake:

1. To make the main cake, preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins with baking paper.
2. Cream the butter and ¾ cup of the sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the butter mixture alternately with the milk and essences.
3. In a separate very clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and remaining ¼ cup sugar until soft peaks form. Carefully fold the egg white mixture into the butter mixture until well combined.
4. Divide the mixture in two. Divide one half between the two tins, then place 10 cake pops evenly into each tin and cover with the remaining mixture.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and a skewer pierced comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a cake rack to cool completely.
6. For the icing, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the vanilla essence and half the sifted icing sugar. Finally, gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar and milk until smooth.

To assemble:

Place one cake on a serving platter and spread over ¼ of the butter cream icing. Top with the remaining cake and spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake (if you level the cake, you risk cutting off part of a polka dot, so try not to).

Decorate with fondant polka dots. 

Tip: ?Natural food colouring fades during cooking so make your mixture a little stronger in colour than you want the finished cake to be.