• Preheat the oven to 180 deg fan assisted. Grease and line two 20cm round loose bottomed cake tins.
• Mix together the flour, baking powder and cocoa, then set aside.
  250 g Self Raising Flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• In a sperate bowl, combine the buttermilk with the red colouring and mix thoroughly.
  240 ml Buttermilk, 1 ½ teaspoons Red concentrated gel food colouring
• Beat together the butter and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy.
  120 g butter, 250 g white caster sugar
• Gradually add the lightly beaten eggs, adding a little of the flour mix to help prevent curding.

  Add the Vanilla extract half the remaining flour mixture and half the red buttermilk and mix together.
  2 medium eggs, 1 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
• Add the remaining flour and red buttermilk and beat until well combined. At this stage if the colour of the batter is not as deep a red as you would like, add more Gel colouring.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins and spread evenly.

  Bake in the centre of the oven for 25 – 30mins, or until baked testing the centre of each cake with a skewer until it comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

• While the cakes are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Beat together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, then add the vanilla extract. Mix until well combined.
  275 g butter , 145 g Icing sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Very lightly mix the cream cheese to loosen it a little, then add to the butter icing mixture. Very gently mix until well combined. Do not overbeat the frosting or it will separate and curdle. Give it the minimum of mixing once you have added the cream cheese.
  450 g full fat cream cheese
• Once the cakes have cooled completely, slice the two sponge cakes in half horizontally, creating four layers in total.
• Place one layer of sponge onto a plate and cover with a thin layer of frosting. Top with the second sponge layer and cover this with more frosting, then repeat the process.
• Using a palette knife, crumb coat the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. Leave to chill in the fridge for about an hour until firm and set.

Finishing touches and Toppings.

• Remove the cake from the fridge, then cover the top and sides with more frosting, finishing with a smooth surface. Add some frosting to a piping bag with a rosette nozzle and decorate the top of the cake with swirls of frosting.

  Add the white chocolate truffles in the centre. As an optional topping to give a hint of the colour inside, scatter with a few freeze dried Raspberries or Strawberries.
  White Chocolate Truffles , Freeze dried Raspberries