This novelty cake is based on a simple square fruit cake covered in marzipan and fondant icing.
I covered the entire cake with white fondant and then created the Grass by placing an oval of coloured fondant onto the covered cake and iding the edges with piped green stars. Further piped green icing enhances the appearance of the grass.
The pony, showjumping poles and the rider (clinging to the side of the cake) are also made from fondant. To create the dark colours, it is best to let the white model dry out and then paint with food colouring. The figures take a little practice, but do not forget this is a novelty cake and therefore the characters look best if they are ‘cartoon’ like. Just let your imagination run. I usually have a rough idea of how I want the finished cake to look, but the actual design developes as I go along.
In this cake I decided to add a rabbit hole after I had nearly finished. This I achieved with a ball of white fondant which I hollowed out and then placed onto the cake. I then covered the mound with green fondant (leaving the hollowed out front uncovered). The edges were hidden with piped green ‘grass’. I then modelled a small brown ball and pushed it into the hollow, placed a white ball on the top as a tail and two oval flat pieces of fondant as feet.
Preparing a Cake Tin for a Sponge Cake
Nothing is more depressing than carefully mixing and baking a sponge, only to have it stick to the tin and come out in pieces. The following method will ensure that this never happens.
Melt an ounce of lard or other hard white fat in a microwave or in a pan on the hob. Using a pastry brush, simply brush the entire area of the inside of the tin, Making sure you go right into the corners of a square tin and into the indentations if using a round ‘fluted’ sponge tin. Leave to cool until the fat has solidified on the surface of the tin. Finally add a tablespoon of flour to the tin and shake, until the fat is completely coated. If using two tins, simply empty the flour into the second tin and repeat. Finally tap the tins to remove excess flour. Should you notice any area not coated, simply paint with a little melted fat and cover with flour until the entire area is covered with flour. Your tin is now ready.
It is possible to buy parchment circles to prevent cakes from sticking. These are pre-cut circles of baking parchment which are placed in the base of the cake tin. It is necessary to grease the tin beforehand as the sides will stick and also the parchment may lift when you fill the tin and some mixture could seep underneath the paper. It is not necessary to grease the circles as baking parchment can simply be lifted off the baked cake.
I find this very tiresome myself, but it is definately worth the extra effort to have a deliciously moist cake without dry burnt edges.
What you will need
Cake Tin
Greaseproof Paper
Scissors
1oz (28 grams) Lard
Pastry Brush for Geasing
Pencil or Pen
Use greaseproof paper to double line your tin. Firstly cut out two pieces for the base of the tin, using the tin as a template, then cut enough lengths of greaseproof paper, just higher than the tin, to go round the tin twice with overlaps. Melt some lard in a pan or in the microwave and using a pastry brush, grease the tin and line it with the greaseproof paper, using the brush to push the paper onto the inside of the tin and also grease the paper ready for the next layer. Finish with a layer of grease on the second layer.
Your tin is now ready to use (see picture) – Click on image to enlarge
Difficulty 
(1)
Easy make.
You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.
This effective Halloween cake is very quick and easy to make and is a fraction of the cost of cakes available in supermarkets.
I used a coffee whisked sponge for this recipe, filled with coffee buttercream. The decoration is made out of water icing, coloured with food colouring. I used apricot for the background and black for the actual web.
See Chocolate Feather Icing for step by step instructions on creating this effective decoration. Finally place a plastic spider on the web. These are readily available in shops from the middle of September.
Difficulty 
(2)
Moderately easy but care must be taken not to overheat the chocolate
This is a variation of feather icing in that it uses melted chocolate instead of icing.
To ice a round sponge you will need:
150 grams grated milk chocolate (or chocolate chips)
50 grams grated white chocolate
25 grams butter
1 greaseproof icing bag
No 1 plain nozzle
- Make the icing bag and insert the nozzle.
- Melt the milk chocolate and butter in a basin over hot water or in a microwave and beat together until smooth and glossy. Adding the butter allows you to cut the decorated cake without the chocolate covering breaking.
- In small bowl melt the white chocolate (do not add butter)
Spread the cake with the melted milk chocolate and smooth out (it does not have to be completely smooth)
Pour the melted white icing into the bag and starting at the centre of the cake, ice circles of white chocolate. (Do not worry if they are wobbly)
Lastly, ice a large ‘dot’ right in the centre. Then using a flat bladed knife, draw the knife through the chocolate, from the centre to the edge of the cake.
Continue this evenly round the cake. I usually mark the cake in half, then quarters and finally eigths to give an even look.
NOTE. You only feather the icing in one direction on this particular design.
Once you have finished, you will have a very attractive spiders web design. Leave to set naturally before cutting.
Using this spiders web design you can then start to decorate novelty cakes.
The following two ideas are created using coloured icing instead of chocolate:
A Halloween Spiders Web can be created by using orange icing as the base and black icing for the circles. Finally place a plastic spider on the web.
Use red icing as the base and black icing for the circles to create a simple Spiderman effect cake for your son’s birthday.
These little icing bags are a must for anyone undertaking cake decoration. They are especially ideal when decorating a cake with many colours.
All you need is a roll of Greaseproof Paper and a little practise. They can be fiddly at first, but are well worth perfecting.
Firstly cut a square of paper. It does not matter what size, but do bear in mind that the completed bag will be approximately a quarter of the size of the original piece of paper.
Fold the paper in half diagonally and press along the fold.
Next with the long edge of the triangle facing away from you, take the right hand point and curl it under to the centre point (facing you) to form a small cone and hold in place.
Next take the left hand point and fold it around the cone you have just formed, bringing all the points together.
Fold all three points over into the bag three times to hold in place. You should now have a perfect icing bag.
Simply snip off the point with a pair of sicissors. Do not cut too much off at first, you can always adjust later.
Then insert your icing nozzle, pushing down gently with the handle of a wooden spoon until it just sticks out of the end of the bag. You can cut a little more off the point if necessary.
Difficulty (1)
Easy Make
Vanilla sugar is a delicious way of flavouring cakes, puddings and toppings. It is extremely easy to make and is very natural. Also it is a very economical and cost effective way to obtain the most flavour from vanilla pods.
You will need
A screw top jar
Granulated or caster sugar
Vanilla Pods
Place vanilla pod in the empty screw top jar (use 2 for a jam jar size) and simply fill up with sugar. Leave for a couple of weeks and use in your favourite recipes. It is delicious sprinkled on butter shortbread and rock buns.
As you use the sugar, top the jar back up again. The vanilla pods with continue to flavour the sugar for many months.
Difficulty (1)
Very easy
Feather Icing looks very impressive but is in fact very simple to achieve even for a novice decorator.
Feather icing is very useful for decorating sponge cakes and can be used on large sponges or individual cup cakes.
The main points to remember are:
- Ensure you have all equipment ready before you start decorating
- The Icing should be runny but not watery
- Make your contrast colour bright
What you will need
- Cake to be iced
- Icing Sugar
- Sieve
- 2 Mixing Bowls
- Icing Bag
- Icing Nozzle (No 1 or 2)
- Food Colouring
- Spatula or round bladed knife
- Clean knife
- Water
- Cocktail Stick
How to Feather Ice
Take your cake and place it on a cooling rack on a chopping board. The icing being runny will drip off the sides and the chopping board will catch the drips.
Sift half a box of Icing Sugar into one of the bowls and add sufficient cold water to give a runny but not watery consistency.
Take a small amount of the icing and put into the second bowl. Using a cocktail stick add small drops of food colour to the icing until you have your desired colour. Spoon this icing into an icing bag fitted with a plain writing nozzle. Use a No. 1 nozzle for small cup cakes and a No. 2 for a large sponge.
Spread the white icing onto your sponge and spread with a flat bladed knife.
Once the cake is covered, take your icing bag filled with the coloured icing and pipe lines accross the width of the cake. Do not worry if the lines are a little wobbly but by lifting the bag away from the cake as you ice will give a straighter line. It is a good Idea to pipe the centre line first and then pipe the rest evenly from this line to the edges.
Once all the lines have been piped take a clean knife and draw it down the length of the cake and through the piped lines. Continue this accross the cake approximately every 2 inches (5 cms).
Turn the cake round and repeat between the first lines. As you will see the coloured icing is drawn down and through the white icing and when you turn the cake round the pattern is drawn in the opposite direction giving the well known feather icing.
It is important to have all the equipment ready before you start as the pattern will not work if the icing starts to set. If you follow these rules you will have a very attractive cake with very little effort and your family and friends will be very impressed.
Once you can feather ice, you can use it in many different ways (See Chocolate Feather Iced Cake).