Ingredients:

Cake:
• 375g plain flour
• 45g cornflour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
• 360ml buttermilk
• 350g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 400g golden caster sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 x 250g bags of M&M eggs to fill and decorate!
• Blue, yellow and pink food colouring

Icing:
• 350g unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 730g icing sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 2 tbsp milk, to loosen.

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Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c/160c fan/Gas Mark 4, and grease and line the bottom of 3 23cm/9-inch tins.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, and set aside.
3. In a small bowl, mix the buttermilk with the vanilla bean paste, and set aside.
4. In another small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and egg whites until combined, and set aside.
5. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy – about 4-5 minutes.
6. Beating on a low speed, add the egg mixture alternately with the dry ingredients until just combined. Slowly pour in the buttermilk and mix until just combined, then divide the mixture between three bowls.
7. Gradually add the food colouring to each bowl (you can always add more but you can’t take away!) until you reach the desired shade.
8. Pour the batter into the cake pans, and bake for around 20-25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. A cake skewer or toothpick should come out clean when pressed into the centre of the cake.

Icing:

1. Using a mixer, beat together the icing sugar and butter until it’s pale and creamy (around 4-5 minutes), then mix in the vanilla bean paste until well combined.
2. Add milk gradually until you reach the desired consistency.

Assembly:

1. Level the top of each cooled cake and cut a disc out of the pink and blue sponges using a sharp knife or a cookie cutter.
2. Set the blue ring of cake onto your cake stand or serving plate, and sandwich the pink ring on top using some buttercream. Fill the centre to bursting with M&M eggs!
3. Sandwich the yellow layer on top with more buttercream, then coat the top and sides with a final layer.
4. Decorate the top with more M&M eggs, and more buttercream if you wish!

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