Red Velvet Shaky Bones Cake

Method

Make it together.

1. Preheat the oven to 180u00b0C/160u00b0C Fan/350u00b0F/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 8-inch round cake tins.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat eggs in gently one at a time, thoroughly adding each one into mixture.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder, vanilla and red food colour into a paste. Add to the cake batter and beat well.
4. Add salt to the buttermilk and stir. Add to the cake batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but donu2019t over-beat.
5. In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda and add to the batter. Mix until smooth, then divide equally between the tins and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Leave to cool, then layer with crumb coat and frosting. Chill for half an hour before decorating.
7. To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Add 3 tbsp of room temperature cream cheese and gently mix, then set aside until needed.
8. To make the meringue bones, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt in a clean bowl with an electric hand whisk or in a stand mixer until stiff peak consistency is reached.
9. Add 1/3 of the sugar and whisk in for 30 seconds. Add the other two thirds, whisking well between each.
10. Place mixture in a piping bag and pipe random sized bone shape meringues over two large baking trays, leaving a little gap in between each.
11. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 120u00b0C fan/ until dried out completely.
12. To decorate the cake, use a little cream cheese frosting to fix the bone around the top and on the sides of the cake.
13. Slice and serve with a drizzle of red jam (made with a touch of water and a tiny squeeze of red food gel colour) to replicate gooey blood!