Tigga Mac is a Youtube, TikTok & Instagram channel famous for their creative cakes.
Over all their platforms they have more than 4 million followers.
They are releasing their first cookbook called ‘Tigga Mac’s Cake Hacks’.
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To get the book, head to the website here!
LION CAKE
You Will Need
25cm cake board
2 piping bags
baking paper
2 toothpicks (optional)
1 20cm round cake
1 batch Tigga’s buttercream
yellow gel food colouring
brown gel food colouring
3 pink marshmallows
2 marshmallow eyes (see page 17)
8 Arnott’s Choc Ripple biscuits
Cut the Cake!
Okie dokie, let’s begin! Following the cutting guide, cut the cake as shown starting with the long vertical cut. You will end up with 2 main pieces – the head (1) and the muzzle (2) – plus 2 small offcuts. Feel free to snack on these offcuts, as you won’t need them!
Colour
First make the coloured buttercream – remember to add the food colouring a little at a time until you are happy with the result. Colour all the buttercream pale yellow and add a drop of brown to turn it pale gold. Scoop 1 cup of pale-gold buttercream into a bowl and set it aside. This will be for the lion’s muzzle. Continue adding more yellow and brown to the remaining buttercream until you achieve a rich dark-gold colour. This will be for the lion’s head.
Assembly
Now it’s time to put the pieces together. Spread a little buttercream on the cake board where the cake will sit. This will be the glue that stops the cake from moving around while you are decorating it. Stand the head (1) upright on the board.
Then, use buttercream to stick the muzzle (2) to the front of the head. Remember, a nice cold cake is much easier to handle!
Carving
The lion’s head is now coming together. To complete the shape, use a small, sharp knife to round off the edges of the muzzle. Also cut a small triangle from the top of the muzzle to allow room for the nose.
Buttercream Time
Fill a piping bag with the dark-gold buttercream and cut off the end. Roughly pipe buttercream all over the head (but NOT the muzzle), smoothing out with a palette knife. Fill the other piping bag with the light-gold buttercream and pipe over the muzzle, once again smoothing out with a palette knife. Chill the cake for at least 10 minutes or until firm. Add a second coat of each buttercream colour, using a palette knife to achieve as smooth a result as possible.
Now, mark a line down the centre of the muzzle using a wooden skewer. Set the remaining dark[1]gold buttercream aside to add details later on.
Nose & Eyes
For the nose, cut a pink marshmallow into a heart shape using scissors and pop it into place. Place the marshmallow eyes on the front of the head.
Ears
To create the ears, pipe 2 blobs of dark-gold buttercream onto a piece of baking paper. Press a pink marshmallow into each blob and flatten gently, then chill in the fridge for 15 minutes or until firm.
Once firm, slice the bottoms off each blob to create a flat edge and using buttercream, stick the ears onto the lion’s head. If you are worried about the ears falling off, you can add toothpicks to secure them in place! Just remember to remove the toothpicks before serving!
The Mane Event
Cut the bottom third off each chocolate biscuit to create a flat edge.
Then pipe a line of dark-gold buttercream around the head to secure the biscuits and place them side by side to form the mane.
Finally, using the remaining dark-gold buttercream, pipe some hair on top of the lion’s head. Now that your cake is complete, step back and admire your creation with PRIDE!