Bake Off at Home: Ella’s Boob Cake Showstopper, Complete with Biccy Bra and Breast Milk

Is there anything more comforting that The Great British Bake Off? Well, yes — The Great Australian Bake Off. Because only on the Aussie series would you get a Showstopper “Boob Cake”.

Season 5 of The Great Australian Bake Off kicked off on Thursday night with Cake Week, and ooh boy Ella Rossanis did not disappoint when it came to the Showstopper challenge.

The 35-year-old creative copywriter and mother of three created a spectacular boob cake — titled TaBoob Mountain — complete with biccy bra and ganache breast milk.

“After three kids, I’m finally starting to enjoy breastfeeding, but it’s been a bloody uphill climb to get here! This cake is my breastfeeding story,” Ella said.

“I know breast feeding can make some people uncomfortable, hence the name.”

Ella has kindly shared the recipe for her boob cake, and brace yourselves, it’s a hefty one!

Now, keep in mind that the recipe is the baker’s own and has not been tested officially, but Ella has provided as much detail as possible.

How to make Ella’s Boob Cake

Ingredients

For the lime cake:

• 340g caster sugar
• 255 g plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 170g unsalted butter cold and cubed
• 190ml whole milk ideally room temperature
• 180 ml egg whites
• 2 tsp lime zest
• 50 ml lime juice (about 3 limes)

For the lemon cake:

• 340g caster sugar
• 255 g plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 170g unsalted butter cold and cubed
• 190ml whole milk ideally room temperature
• 180 ml egg whites
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 50ml lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons)

Lemon buttercream (for the cake and biscuit bra):

• 900g unsalted butter (room temp)
• 4 tsp vanilla essence
• 1800g soft icing sugar mixture50g lemon juice (about 1.5 lemons)
• ½ tsp of salt

Zesty biccy (for the biscuit bra):

• 226g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp lime zest
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 450g (3 cups) plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the white chocolate and passionfruit “breast milk”:

• 280 ml fresh pouring cream
• 45 ml passionfruit juice (about 4 passionfruit, strained through a sieve)
• 2 pieces lemon rind, removed with a peeler
• 100 gm Lindt Lindor White Chocolate Block (100g Block)

For the chocolate nipples:

• 1 x block of Cadbury Caramilk
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips
• 2 tsp freeze dried raspberry powder

Method

Make the cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease 8 x 7-inch cake tins and line with baking parchment.
2. Work at the same time in two stand mixers. Make a note of the weight of two empty stand mixer bowls.
3. Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt of both cakes in the bowls of your stand mixer and briefly beat together with a paddle attachment on low speed to combine.
4. Add the cubed butter and beat on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
5. Start with one cake first. Do the other when the first is in the oven. In two measuring jugs, mix the milk and lime/lemon juice. Leave to thicken into butter milk then add eggs and zest
6. Add the liquid ingredients into the batter, in three stages, mixing well on low speed after each addition. Increase the speed and mix for a couple of minutes until batter is smooth.
7. Weigh each bowl with ingredients and minus the weight of the bowl. Divide the weight of the batter in each bowl evenly into the four cake tins.
8. Bake at 160°C fan-forced for 18 minutes or until the cakes are well risen, firm on top and coming away from the sides of the tin. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.
9. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes and then carefully turn out on a wire rack lined with baking paper (the cake layers are quite sticky). Cool completely. Put into the fridge if necessary.

Meanwhile, make the zesty biscuit bra:

1. Cream together butter and sugar until pale about 3 minutes, then scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the egg, zest, baking powder and vanilla extract, then beat for 2 minutes until creamy yellow.
2. Add flour and salt and mix on low speed to combine (about 2 minutes). Form into two balls. If it doesn’t come together add a little water. Knead lightly until smooth on floured surface.
3. Roll out one piece of dough between 2 pieces of baking paper until about 4mm thick.
4. Line 2 x 2L Pyrex bowls or 2 x 8-inch sphere cake pans with baking paper. Form dough into bra shape in bowl/pan. Cover with more baking paper and fill to the top with rice to weigh the dough down. Repeat with second piece of dough and second bowl. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Bake biscuits 12 minutes, remove rice and baking paper. Bake another 10 until crispy. If not fully crispy, remove from bowl and bake a few minutes longer until cooked. Set aside to cool.

Make the white chocolate and passionfruit “breast milk”:

Combine cream, juice and rind in a saucepan and bring just to the boil over medium-high heat. Place chocolate in a bowl, pour hot cream mixture over a sieve and whisk until smooth. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Make the buttercream:

1. Place butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment and cream until blended and smooth. Scrape bottom of bowl often.
2. Cover the mixer with plastic wrap to keep some of the icing sugar from escaping while you mix.
3. Add all the sugar one cup at a time on low until incorporated. Add juice and salt and mix on low until blended and smooth. Do not turn up the mixer or you will get air bubbles. Let it mix on low for 10 minutes so it’s perfectly smooth.
4. Remove about a quarter of the buttercream and set aside for the biscuit bra. Add enough peach and blush colouring to the rest to get to a nice skin colour and mix in mixer till combined. Transfer to a piping bag.

Assemble cake:

1. Add a dob of butter cream to the top of 2 cake spinners. Stick one cake board on top and another dob. Alternate yellow and green cakes, sandwiching with a thin layer of buttercream. Put in the fridge to harden.
2. Remove from fridge and shape into domes. Cut deep wells in the center of each cake (cut through 3 cakes)
3. Coat with crumb coat of buttercream, making sure to coat the wells too. Put back in the fridge.

Meanwhile, make the chocolate nipples:

Melt half the block of Caramilk in the microwave on low in 20 second bursts, stirring after each burst until almost melted. Add remainder of Caramilk and enough dark chocolate to make a darker skin colour and stir until fully melted. Add the raspberry powder. Add a couple of drops of peach and pink food colouring if needed to get a pinker hue. Cut the tips off the pinky finger of 2 rubber gloves and fill 1.5 cm with chocolate. Put in the fridge to set. Smooth a thin layer of chocolate on a piece of baking paper using icing scraper. When nearly set, cut rounds with round cookie cutter. Heat a knife with hot water and melt the bottom of the nipple to smooth and stick onto chocolate areolas. Set aside.

Get back to the cake:

Remove from the fridge and coat with topcoat of buttercream smoothing down with the flexible chopping board bent into a dome shape. Make sure there are no holes in the wells or the ganache will leak. Pop back in the fridge.

Decorate the biscuit bra:

Divide remaining buttercream into 5 different bowls and colour with different colours. Coat biscuit with blue icing and set in the fridge. Remove from fridge and decorate.

Assemble TaBoob Mountain:

Remove cakes from spinners and put on the board. Pour ganache into wells and top with chocolate nipples. Press baby onto side of cake. Top carefully with biscuit bra, trying not to break nipples or squash the cake too much.

Honestly, we all deserve a slice of Boob Cake after that effort!

It would make a fantastic baby shower cake or dessert for International Women’s Day, if you ask me.

The Great Australian Bake Off is on Foxtel on Thursdays at 8.30pm and On Demand.