Hippo Cake Tutorial

February 03, 2017

Here's a simple way to make a hippo cake using buttercream, without fondant! This cheerful Hippo Cake left me beaming when I decorated it in the kitchen. It is a chocolate flavoured cake, but really, you can bake any flavour you desire as it will be covered with buttercream outside.

Hope you enjoy this Hippo Cake tutorial!

"I have a hippo-thesis, you're gonna do big things"

HIPPO CAKE TUTORIAL

by Sumopocky

6 inch cake pan

Parchment paper

Electric mixer
Piping bags

Ingredients:

[For Chocolate Sponge Cake]

3 Egg yolks

75g of Caster sugar

90g of Self-raising flour

1/4 tsp of Baking powder

1/4 tsp of Baking soda

38ml of Vegetable oil

1/2 tsp of Vanilla essence
1 pinch of Salt

3 Egg whites

45g of Caster sugar

23g Cocoa powder + 90ml Hot water – combine and stir till smooth

[For Chocolate Buttercream]

180g of Bittersweet chocolate chips
226g of Unsalted butter (softened)
230g of Icing sugar
1 tsp of Vanilla extract

[For Buttercream]

230g of Unsalted butter (softened)
200g of Icing sugar
1 tsp of Vanilla extract
Purple food colouring
Red food colouring

2 Large chocolate chips

Directions
[For Chocolate Sponge Cake]

1. Preheat oven to 176°C

2. Mix egg yolks, sugar, oil, self-raising flour, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl.

3. Add in cocoa and water mixture and stir together till smooth.

4. Beat egg white for 2 minutes using an electric mixer, then pour in sugar gradually till egg white becomes fluffy but not too stiff. This forms the meringue. Do not over beat as it will be hard to incorporate into the batter.

5. Fold the meringue into the egg yolk mixture. Do not over mix otherwise the meringue will be deflated and the cake will sink. P.S. If you feel that you are mixing too long and can still see traces of egg white it means that you have over beaten your egg white.
6. Pour mixture into a cake pan lined with parchment paper, and bake for about 50 minutes or till cake tester comes out clean.

7. Cool the cake on wire rack and then slice into 3 layers.

[For Chocolate Buttercream]

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave or over a water bath. Let it cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the unsalted butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar till white and fluffy.

3. Gradually pour in the melted chocolate while the mixer is still running, and stop once everything is fully incorporated.

[For Buttercream]

1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the unsalted butter, vanilla extract and icing sugar till white and fluffy.
2. Add food colouring to the buttercream according to the table below:

Colour of buttercream
White
Pink
Purple
Light Purple

Amount
2 tablespoon
1 tablespoon
4 - 5 tablespoon
Remaining buttercream

Food Colouring

N.A.
Pink

Purple

Piping Bag?

Small tip

Small tip
Medium tip
None

[Assembling the Cake]
Please refer to the video above for a step-by-step demonstration.

1. Spread the chocolate buttercream on cake board. Place the first layer of sponge cake, cover with chocolate buttercream, and cover with the next layer of sponge. Repeat.
2. Crumb coat the cake by spreading a thin layer of chocolate buttercream. Freeze for 10 minutes.
3. Using a small knife, sketch a rough outline of the hippo's head. When you are happy with the shape, cut the cake according to your outline. Cut out ears from the trimmed cake, and stick it to the head using some chocolate buttercream.
4. Coat with a thin layer of light purple buttercream. Freeze for another 10 minutes, then cover with light purple buttercream.

5. Use the purple buttercream for snout. Draw the eyes, nose and mouth with white buttercream. With the pink buttercream, draw its inner ears and blusher. Use chocolate chips for the iris.

6. Slice with a warm knife and serve.