It was 1920s week on the Great British Bake Off, which meant custard tarts for their signature bake, beignet souffles for the technical and prohibition cakes for the showstopper challenge.

And for the first time so far, I went for the showstopper challenge. Now, I must confess, my cake does not look anywhere near as beautiful and decorative as the cakes seen on GBBO. I’m very much a novice, and still learning how to decorate cakes.

We could just say that my cake is drunk on champagne, which is why it’s a bit wonky. Right?

I went and bought some equipment for this cake, and I intend to make use of these a lot in the future. Practice makes perfect, right?

Ingredients

250 grams plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
230 grams caster sugar
175 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 tbsp vanilla extract
50 ml vegetable oil
125 ml Greek yoghurt
200 ml pink champagne
1 drop fuchsia food colouring

400 grams icing sugar
100 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
125 ml pink champagne
1 drop neon purple food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease three 15cm cake tins with loose bases.
2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a free-standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each egg.
4. Add the vanilla, oil and yoghurt, beat until just combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixture. Finally, add the champagne and beat until fully incorporated.
5. Once a smooth batter has formed, divide the batter between the three cake pans equally.
6. Place in the oven and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn out the cakes onto a wire rack, and allow them to cool.
7. Once the cakes are cool, make the buttercream. Beat the icing sugar and butter until well-combined, then add the champagne. Beat until smooth.
8. Frost the first layer of the cake, and then place the second layer on top. Frost that layer, then place the third layer on top. Use the frosting to decorate the cake – you can choose whether to completely cover or only semi-cover the cake. Decorate as you choose with sprinkles.