Add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and mix together using a hand mixer until well combined.

Next add the softened butter and mix on low speed until mixture reaches a crumbly sand like texture.

Add the eggs, milk, oil, Greek yogurt, raspberry flavouring, pink food gel and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until no dry ingredients are showing. Scrape down the bowl and mix for another 20 seconds.

Fill three 8” cake tins with batter. I find using an ice cream scoop to help me do this makes it easy to distribute the batter evenly so that everything bakes at the same time.

Bake for 50-60 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If the pick comes out with wet batter, bake for a further 10 min at a time until fully baked. Allow the cakes to cool to room temperature inside the cake tins and then chill them in the fridge overnight. Chilling your cakes overnight makes them easier to trim and decorate. So I bake my cakes the day before I decorate them.

To trim your chilled cakes, use a cake leveller or large serrated knife to carefully trim the crust off the top of each cake before you trim each cake in half. You’ll end up with 6 layers of cake.

To crumb coat your cake, add a dab of frosting onto an 8” cake board or flat serving plate. Use a small offset spatula to spread the frosting around before adding the first cake layer. Gently press down the centre of the cake layer to make sure it’s stuck to the frosting underneath.

Add frosting to a piping bag and frost a ring around the top of the cake. Fill the centre with more frosting. Use your small offset spatula to smoothen out the frosting before you add the next layer of cake. Repeat with the remaining layers.

Add more frosting around and top and sides of the cake. Use the small spatula to smoothen out the top and sides of the cake, taking care to fill in any gaps in between each layer of cake.

Use a cake scraper (otherwise known as a bench scraper) to smoothen out the frosting on the sides and top. Get it as neat as you can. This should just be a neat, thin layer of frosting which is aimed at trapping any cake crumbs so that random bits of cake crumbs don’t show up on the final layer of frosting.

We’re going to use bubble straws to add a bit of support so that when we put the white modelling chocolate hand on it, it doesn’t collapse under the weight. Simply slide four straws into the cake, then add a little frosting, smoothen it out with a spatula and add a 6” cake board on top. Add more frosting on top and then smoothen out using a spatula.

I used a small sharp knife to cut three holes in the 6” cake board on top of the cake. I spaced them out about 1.5cm apart. Stick three cake pop sticks in them.

Chill for 2 hours or overnight.

To add the final layer of frosting repeat the same process as the crumb coat. Chill.

Add the chocolate to a large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds at a time, mixing each time until smooth.

Add the warm corn syrup and mix until it forms a dough. Take care to not overmix otherwise the mixture will split. You want to mix just until it’s come together.

Place the modelling chocolate on top of a large piece of plastic wrap and place another piece of plastic wrap on top. Flatten out with your hands and set aside to set at room temperature for 2 hours.

Once set, unwrap and knead like dough until the mixture becomes stretchy like a pizza dough. If you find your modelling chocolate is crumbly and won’t form into a dough, simply wet your hands and knead the dough a couple times. Wet your hands and continue kneading. Continue doing that until it becomes smooth and stretchy,

Take away 1/3 of the modelling chocolate and add pink food gel. Kneed the food gel into the modelling chocolate until evenly coloured. To create the heart, watch the video. It’s really simple and keep in mind, any imperfections are ok because hearts have fold and smooth bumps. Place on a piece of baking paper and chill in the fridge to set.

To make the hand, simply flatten out another third of the modelling chocolate and use a sharp knife to very carefully trace around your own hand. Then use your fingers to smoothen out the fingers and the rest of the hand. You’re going to use your own hand as inspiration for where to add detail. Things like creases, the shape of your hand etc. You can use a number of tools like a knife to add creases, but you’ll mostly use your own hands to shape the hand. You don’t need to worry about the palm of the hand because it will be hidden by the heart, focus more on the sides and back of the hand.

Use the remaining modelling chocolate to shape a log about the same width of your forearm. Place it under the bottom of the hand and join it by using your hands to join it together. Make sure you go all around the hand. Place on top of cylindrical shape covered in baking paper to add a bend at the back of the hand and arm to make the hand appear more natural. Hold your arm up with something in your hand, there a bench at your wrist, right? Nobody holds their hand completely straight. Finally, use a sharp knife to add fingernail details as shown in the video.

Place the chilled heart on top of the palm of the hand and wrap the fingers around it. Use your hand as a guide for where the bends in the fingers should be and hold something in your hand roughly the same shape and size of the heart to see how your hand looks. Place the hand in the fridge for 2 hours to set completely.

Once set and chilled. Use a sharp knife to trim off the bottom of the arm.

Create three holes in the bottom of the forearm, the same size as the ones you put on top of the hand. Carefully go into the arm about 10cm. I used a skewer to do this. Once you’ve created the holes, take out the cake pop sticks from the cake and very carefully and slowly insert them into the holes you just created in the arm.

Place the bottom of the arm on top of the cake. Line up the three cake pop sticks in the arm with the holes you create on top of the cake and place them in the holes. Use a small spatula to smoothen out the frosting where it meets the bottom of the arm.

Use a food safe brush to apply it to the heart. That will make it shiny.

Mix the remaining corn syrup and pink food gel together. Add it to a piping bag and drip it from the bottom of the heart down the arm. Add a little pool of it on top of the cake below the arm, and then allow a couple drips to go off the cake.

Please note: Take care with this cake. Do not put the hand in or on the cake until an hour before you serve it. I left it on my kitchen bench overnight and the hand snapped off the arm… still holding the heart lol. If it’s a warm day I’d recommend keeping the hand chilled until right before you put it on the cake!