I love making cakes that are a bit different but with cakes I always seem to revert back to my old favourites. I will always experiment with cupcakes, but cakes? No. Don't ask why, I think I just like the traditional choices and flavours such a Lemon Drizzle or Victoria Sponge (although I am a sucker for anything with jam!)
One evening, watching Lorriane Pascale doing her stuff in the kitchen this cake caught my eye, she named it the 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Zebra Cake' with vanilla and chocolate sponge layered to look like a tiger. There is a bit of orange zest in the vanilla sponge so its more like a Chocolate and Orange cake, two flavours I love so I though why not give this cake a go.
I can safely say that this was the most messiest cake I have EVER made! I'm the first to admit that I'm not the tidiest baker but once I had finished this cake I felt like I had bathed in cake batter. Maybe this was just me?
My attempt at the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Zebra Cake didn't quite look like it did on TV, which it never does! And I think this cake is more a spiral sponge cake if I'm honest and didn't live up to my expectations! I took quite a few photos of this cake just to show how it does not look like a tiger! Oh the disappointment! And while I'm on a downer, it is quite a bland cake without any frosting or butter cream as you would expect but you could always add something to liven it up.
This isn't the exact recipe that Lorriane used, this seems to be the only recipe not on the BBC website! But I just used a normal sponge recipe with my own adaptations.