This cake uses the Santa and Children figures made from Mexican Paste using Patchwork Cutters and Snowflakes using medium and large Snowflake Plunger Cutters. The blue colour has been achieved by spraying the cake with Colour Mist Spray after it has been covered in sugarpaste.
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You will need:
Cake covered in marzipan and white sugarpaste
Additional White Sugarpaste
Blue Colour Mist Spray
Snow Flakes
Previously made Snowman and Children figures
Plain holly leaf cutter
A small amount of Royal Icing
Using the additional white sugarpaste, make 4 Medium and approx 20 small snowflakes using the same method as Making Holly Leaves plus a few extra to allow for breakages and leave to dry.
Spray the cake with the blue colour mist spray as evenly as possible. (It will be necessary to cover the adjoining area before spraying as it does tend to go everywhere!).
Wipe the board with a damp cloth to remove any blue spray and leave the cake to dry.
Roll out the remainder of the white sugarpaste and cut out plain holly leaves. Dampen the bottom edge of the cake with a little cool boiled water and stick the holly leaves to the cake, placing them at a slight angle. Continue until you have gone right around the cake.
This provides an attractive boarder which is quick and does not require any piping of icing.
Using the royal icing place a small amount in the centre of the cake and attach the Snowman and Children figures.
To fix the snowflakes, place small blobs of icing in a pattern around the snowman and children and gently press small snowlakes into the icing.
For the side decoration place four small blobs equally round the side of the cake and gently press in the medium snowflakes. Finally arrange small snowflakes in between.
Traditional shortbread should be light, crumbly and melt in the mouth and the only real way to achieve this is to use butter. Shortbread is not light on calories, but then it is not intended to be eaten in great quantities and is lovely as a special treat. Obviously this is not possible if you are dairy intollerant where an alternative fat can be used.
The following is a shortbread baked in a Scottish Thistle mould (available from www.lakeland.co.uk) which looks lovely on a buffet table. If you do not have a mould then a greased 8″ square shallow cake tin can be used, or alternatively the dough can be rolled out and cutters used to make individual biscuits.
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You will need:
150g (5oz) butter (at room temperature)
100g (4oz) caster sugar
275g (10oz) plain flour (sifted)
Half teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
Caster sugar for sprinkling
To Make:
Set oven to 180 deg C, 350 deg F or gas mark 4
Cream the butter and sugar together until very soft and creamy. Add the vanilla extract (if using). Stir the flour into the creamed mixture until it is a firm dough.
If using the mould, using a pastry brush, gently brush the inside of the mould with flour. Press the dough into the mould or cake tin and smooth the surface with a flat bladed knife. If using a cake tin, mark the shortbread into slices or squares before cooking.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. The shortbread should be golden in colour, not brown.
When cooked, take out of the oven and sprinkle with the caster sugar and leave to cool completely before turning out of the moud. Cut the shortbread in the cake tin while still warm, but leave in tin until cold.
This cake was decorated in the same way as the 6″ cake (see 6″ Nativity Cake Shepherd and Sheep) for instructions) but as it is larger, it was possible to add all three shepherds and a couple more sheep.
This cake was created from a disaster where the centre of the cake sunk. However it can be made from a cake cooked in a ring mould.
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While the cake is maturing, it is a good idea to start making the decorations for the cake. I like to have all the decorations made and ready to assemble onto the cake as soon it has been covered with marzipan and icing.
As this is a Holly Wreath Cake it will require lots of holly leaves. The cake being featured is an 8″ round and I made approximately 60 holly leaves in three different sizes. I also curved 20 of them over the edge of a chopping board. These will be placed around the curved edge of the cake.
See Making Sugar Holly Leaves for step by step instructions.
I also made a large Christmas Rose to use on the cake to add relief to the holly leaves. See Making Sugar Christmas Roses for step by step instructions.
Once the leaves and flower have been made the cake can be prepared for decoration. The first thing that has to be done is to shape the cake into the ring.
Unwrap the cake and place on a chopping board.
I used the largest plain scone cutter to cut out the middle. Firstly I placed the cutter on the cake and measured to make sure it was central.
I then pressed the cutter down firmly and twisted it gently.
Remove the cutter and using a sharp knife, cut the remainder of the cake out of the centre.
Trim the outside and inside top edges to make them rounded.
Clear up the discarded pieces of cake and tidy up the edges. (The discarded pieces are perfectly edible and can be served with custard as I had intended until I turned round and found my husband tucking into them with a spoon!!!!).
Place the cake on a cake board and cover with a thin layer of warmed apricot jam (a pastry brush is a good tool to use).
Weigh 750 grams marzipan. Use a small amount of this to roll out a piece, the width of which should be slightly more than the depth of the cake and should be long enough to go round the inside of the cake with a bit extra.
Roll this piece of marzipan losely and place in the centre of the cake.
Press gently into place and cut off the excess.
Roll out the remainder of the marzipan on a work surface dusted in icing sugar. Take the cleaned scone cutter, that was used to remove the centre of the cake, and cut the centre out of the marzipan.
Lift the mazipan into position on the cake and gently press into place.
Smooth the marzipan round the edges with a smoothing tool or the flat of the hands and trim the bottom edge.
Leave to dry in a cardboard cake box or other container but do not seal.
When dry weigh 750 grams sugarpaste and knead until soft and smooth. I coloured the sugarpaste light green using a paste food colouring which colours the sugarpaste without adding moisture. It does take a little while to get an even colour, but it really does not matter if it is a little streaked as this will look natural.
Moisten the marzipan with a little brandy or cold boiled water and then using the same method as for the icing, cover the cake in the green sugarpaste. The joins can be smoothed out by rubbing over them with your finger.
Do not worry if the surface looks uneven, this will be hidden by the holly leaves. Leave to dry for at least 24 hours.
Mix a small amount of royal icing and colour it green. Lay out your assortment of holly leaves and starting at the back of the cake spread a little royal icing on the backs of the leaves and place them on the cake, using the curved ones to fit over the edges leaving a small ring at the back centre bare.
When you have placed approximately 8 leaves around the bare patch, put a little royal icing into this patch and lay some thin red ribbon accorss it so that it spreads out over the already layed holly leaves. Place some more icing over the top and gently press in the previously made large Christmas Rose.
Continue to lay the curved leaves around the inside and outside edges of the cake until they are covered.
Then fill in the spaces with the flatter leaves. This is a little like a jigsaw and requires trying different sizes and shapes to fit. Continue until the top is covered and you are happy with the finish. Finally add holly berries in little clusters of 2 or 3 to add relief and colour.
Put a band of red ribbon or cake edging around the side and the cake is finished.
Place in a display cake box and don’t tell anyone it started out as a solid round cake that went wrong.
These are very simply made and are effective on a plain cake with some holly leaves and berries. I have also used a large Christmas Rose on the Holly Wreath Cake.
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To make the flowers you will nead:
- A small quantity of flower paste (available from most cake decorating shops and also on-line at A Piece of Cake Thame
- A Set of Rose Cutters
- Royal Icing
- Petal dust in yellow and pink
- Some Stamens (optional)
- Small piece of fine lace
- Balling Tool (used to shape the rose petals – optional)
- Baking parchment
- Polystyrene apple container
Roll out the white flower paste very thinly and cut out 3 or 4 petals of your chosen size. (it is best to only cut 3 or 4 shapes at a time as the paste dries out very quickly and cracks.) Keep the remainder covered while you are working.
Using the “balling tool” shape the petal in the palm of your hand by stretching and curving it. (This can also be done with the finger tips).
Repeat this 5 times (the number required for each Christmas Rose) and place them in the Polystyrene apple container to dry while retaining their shape.
Continue until you have enough for the quantity of Christmas Roses required plus a couple of spare and leave to dry for 24 hours.
To make the centre of the Christmas Roses, take some yellow sugar paste (fondant) and make several small balls.
Then using the piece of fine lace, press each ball into it to make an imprint on each one and flatten it out at the same time. At this point you can add some stamens if desired. Just cut the stemens up and push into the yellow paste. Leave to dry.
When the petals are dry and hard take each one and gently dust the outer edge with pink petal dust and the point of each petal with yellow petal dust. Then carefully pass each petal through the steam from a boiling kettle of water and leave to dry.
To assemble the flowers: Cut a small piece of baking parchment and place in the bottom of each section of the polystyrene apple container.
Mix a small amount of royal icing and place a quarter of a teaspoon in the middle of a piece of baking parchment.
Place a petal into the icing.
Continue with the other 4 petals, placing a small amount of icing on the back of each tip and overlapping the petals as you place them.
Finally place a small amount of royal icing onto the back of one of the yellow centres and gently press into the centre of the flower. Leave to dry. Make the rest of the flowers.
When completely dry remove the baking parchment.
The flowers are now ready to be used.