Best Sri Lankan Ribbon Cake-Hilton Style

Ribbon cake is a very Sri Lankan cake which is basically a vanilla cake with different layers of colours. This is a cake that is used by many Sri Lankan households to celebrate special occasions in life. I am doing a small twist to this recipe because with this addition your ribbon cake will go to the next level. Read more to find out how.

Now I grew up eating cake from Hilton Colombo, not to sound too fancy, but that was the truth because my dad used to be the executive chef at Hilton Colombo from the time I was small, so obviously, the only cake I have eaten and remember was from Hilton hotel. They created this cake which was very special. I don’t know the name of it but we describe it as the Ribbon cake with brownie in the middle.

Those who know me from small days, know this use to be the cake I take for any school functions and birthday celebration treats. so I am well known for this cake. this used to be called the Rachi cake at some point and there was a time in life where my friends used to go to Hilton and order the cake as the Rachi cake hahahhaha, mind you the staff at Hilton Colombo was so confused as to what rachi cake was.

Alright, so what is so special about this cake? it is basically a vanilla cake with a gooey brownie, now I cannot begin to describe how good the combination of ribbon cake with brownie and marzipan taste like, it is absolutely delicious. I am not sure who invented this cake at Hilton, but it’s just the best cake of all times.

I make this cake quite often in Melbourne and everyone, just keep asking for the recipe, truth be told, this cake used to be one of my secret recipes but now I am ready to share it with you all. so please do me a favour, if you make this cake, leave a comment below, as it will really bring me joy to see people recreating this cake that was my childhood favourite and one of my biggest secret recipes.

How to decorate the ribbon cake.

I have a step by step video showing how the cake needs to be decorated, I usually add a marzipan sheet on the top, which makes it even better. But for this recipe, I have just used a vanilla butter icing and sandwiched the three layers and decorated it on the top.

Ribbon cake icing

Normal vanilla buttercream is used for this recipe, you can also use colouring to colour the icing. if you wish to have ribbon cake with no icing, then you can just omit the icing, which basically makes it a coloured butter cake.

Best occasions to make a ribbon cake

So this cake is very rich because there is an additional layer of a rich chocolate brownie, this is best to do for a special occasion or birthday party when you like to show off your baking skills and look like a MasterChef in front of your guests. But if you are anything like me, then make it for your afternoon tea snack.

Why food voyageur’s ribbon cake is special?

Alright, guys, I am going to trademark this cake as the food voyageur ribbon cake because you can find millions of recipes for ribbon cake on the internet but you will definitely not find this recipe anywhere else. now I have not just taken the same recipe as Hilton’s cake, I have replicated it to make it extra special. obviously I have to give credit for Hilton Colombo for the inspiration.

How to get the butter to room temperature?

Now, most of the people fail to make this recipe perfect, as the butter plays a huge role. The butter needs to be room temperature. don’t ever microwave it to soften it, as this will make the cake oily. The best is to Cut the butter into small cubes and keep it at room temperature until its soft. But if you are in a country where it is cold and its winter then there is spreadable butter and I use that, I don’t keep it at room temperature, I use it straight from the fridge because it’s already softened.
You can also mix it in a stand or handheld mixer for 2 mins to get it to soften.

Usually, the ribbon cake can be swirled together to look like a marble cake or it can be layered with different colours on top of each other, that’s what I have done in this recipe. usually, the most popular colour for ribbon cake is Pink and green, sometimes yellow.