Michelle Darmody: Celebrate with cake

I find that this a lazy, hazy week where time goes slow and nobody is quite sure what day it is. It is the perfect time to bake something beautiful for the last and hopefully most fun party of the year. 

Hint of Champagne Cupcakes .

Sometimes simple cakes can yield spectacular results if you take the time to decorate them well. The recipe for the cake is quite a plain madeira and the buttercream is a vanilla but when stacked up and decorated the cake becomes spectacular, something to celebrate with. It is the perfect cake for sticking some New Year’s sparklers on top.

Decorating the cake to look like this takes a bit of patience but can be mastered. The trick is to coat the sponge first in the apricot glaze, otherwise you will get crumbs when you attempt to apply the icing.