Ingredients
Two 20 cm (8 inch) and one 15 cm (6 inch) round cake (we used carrot cake, but you could use chocolate, mud or coconut cake)
Meringue frosting
4 egg whites
220 g (7 oz) caster sugar
330 g (11 oz) unsalted butter food colouring round dragees and silver cachous small purple icing flowers
Directions
1 - To make the meringue frosting, put the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Bring a srjaall pan of water to a simmer and place the bowl over the pan (don't let the base of the bowl touch the water). Stir continuously to dissolve the sugar, but be careful not to cook the egg whites.
2 - When the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and beat the mixture with electric beaters for 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. Cut the butter into about 10 pieces and add, piece by piece, beating after each addition. The mixture should thicken when you have about 2 pieces of butter left, but continue until you have added all the butter.
Using a sharp serrated knife, trim the domed top from each cake to give a level surface,. Place a large cake upside down on a plate, so that the flat base becomes the top. Spread some of the frosting evenly over the top and side of the cake with a palette or flat-bladed knife. Sandwich with the other large cake, then spread frosting over the top and side. Put the small cake on top. Reserve about 3 tablespoons of the frosting and spread the remainder smoothly over the top cake.
Add a few drops of food colouring to the reserved frosting to tint it a pale colour (we used purple) and spoon into a small paper icing bag. Pipe squiggles over the top and side of the cake. Use a pair of tweezers to decorate with the dragees, cachous and icing flowers.
Beat until stiff peaks form, then beat in the butter, piece by piece.
Place the small cake on top of the other two iced cakes.
Tint the frosting a pale color and pipe in squiggles over the cake.
Use tweezers to place the dragees, cachous and flowers on the cake.
Ahead of time: This cake can be decorated up to 2 days in advance. Keep the two halves separately in airtight containers in the fridge (unless you have an enormous container that will hold the whole cake). Reassemble and allow to return to room temperature before serving.
