Kim-Joy’s bubble-tea frog cake

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Grease the cake tins with butter and line the bases with circles of baking paper. Put the milk in a large bowl and heat in the microwave in 30-second bursts until boiling (just watch out to avoid the milk bubbling over!). You can also do this on the hob. Add the tea bags to the milk and leave to steep for at least 15 minutes, then squeeze the tea bags and remove from the milk.
2. Add the vinegar/lemon juice to the milk (it should look curdled), add the oil and salt, then stir together.
3. Add the flour (or flour plus xanthan gum), sugar and baking powder to the wet ingredients, then whisk until just combined.
4. Divide the batter equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for around 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then flip on to a wire rack and peel off the baking paper. Leave to cool completely.
5. While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream. Put the milk in a small cup and heat in the microwave until boiling (just watch out to avoid the milk bubbling over). You can also do this on the hob. Add the tea bags to the milk and leave to steep for at least 15 minutes.
6. Add the butter, icing sugar and vanilla to a bowl and whisk until smooth and pale in colour. Squeeze the tea bags and remove from the milk, then add 2 tbsp milk to the buttercream before whisking again until combined. Add more milk, if needed, to ensure that the buttercream is soft and easy to smooth on to the cake. The tea extract is what gives the buttercream its brown colour.
7. Once the cakes are cool, you can sandwich them together. Put the first cake layer on a serving plate or cake stand (it helps if you can fit this in the fridge!), then smooth a generous amount of the buttercream on top. Place the second cake layer on top, then smooth another layer of buttercream on top.
8. You should have a small amount of buttercream left – add a little green food dye to this and mix to create a green buttercream for the frog. Place three quarters of this in one piping bag and the remainder in a second, smaller piping bag. Snip a large opening on the bigger piping bag, and a small opening on the smaller. Use the larger piping bag to pipe one large blob near the edge of the cake for the frog’s body. Use the smaller piping bag to add the legs and two little blobs for the eyes (or use edible eye sprinkles). Score a line with a toothpick or similar to create an indented mouth. Wait until after adding the boba to add the arms. Place the cake in the fridge to chill while you make the brown sugar boba topping.
9. Prepare and cook your tapioca pearls according to the packet instructions (different brands take different amounts of time to cook and float on the surface), then drain. Combine the brown sugar and 100ml water in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook until the sugar has melted and started to boil. Add the tapioca pearls and boil for 10 minutes, then set aside to cool at room temperature until cool but not completely cold. They will harden if left to go completely cold!
10. Spoon the delicious boba on top of the cake, allowing some of it to drip down the sides. The boba may melt some of the buttercream and add to the effect, so don’t worry about this happening! Pipe the frog’s arms to complete the decoration and serve straight away. The boba must be eaten within a few hours, otherwise it hardens a bit, so this is best made for a party or a larger gathering where you know it will mostly get eaten. If there’s some cake remaining, remove the boba and put the cake in an airtight container to keep fresh.