Shaped novelty cakes are very easy to make using specially shaped cake tins/moulds.  This Mickey Mouse cake was created using a Silicone Cake Mould my daughter purchased at Disneyland Paris.  Other shapes, such as trains, boats and Disney characters such as Buzz Light-year are easily obtainable to purchase.  However most cake decorating shops hire these tins for 3 to 4 days at very reasonable rates.

Silicone Moulds have the advantage in that the cooked sponge can easily be removed.  Cake release sprays are available, but I found that painting the inside with melted lard and then dusting with flour is very effective (see preparing a cake tin for a sponge cake).

The decoration is simply coloured butter icing piped using a rose nozzle.  The black icing is created by using chocolate butter icing.  Large amounts of black food colouring make the icing taste strange and I do not feel happy feeding children so much colouring.  The chocolate butter icing reduces the amount of black colouring required and gives a nice flavour.

Ingredients for the Mickey Mouse sponge cake are:

8 oz (225g) butter/margarine
8 oz (225g) caster sugar
8 oz (225) self raising flour (sifted)
4 eggs (beaten)
Half teaspoon of vanilla extract
Large baking tray to place filled mould on to cook as it is too floppy without
12” (30 cm) cake board

Set oven to 180 C, 356 F or Gas Mark 4

Beat the butter/margarine and caster sugar together until light in colour and creamy, using a wooden spoon or food mixer
Add the eggs and beat well
Add the vanilla extract
Carefully fold in the self-raising flour using a metal spoon
Spoon the mixture into the prepared mould and spread out evenly, especially in the ears
Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown.  The cake should be firm to the touch and starting to shrink from the edges of the mould
Remove from the oven and leave for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely

Butter Icing

6 oz (175) butter (softened)
12 oz (245) icing sugar
Half teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
4 oz (100g) fondant icing powder
Food colouring in red, black and pink
Piping bags and 2 rose nozzles, one small and one large

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until soft and creamy.  Put half into a bowl and set aside.  Sift the cocoa powder into the remaining butter icing and mix well.  This will now form the basis of the black icing.  Add just enough black food colouring to create a grey mixture.  Leave this for an hour to develop and become black.

Take the remaining butter icing and colour pink.  Take a tablespoon of this pink mixture and add red food colour until it is light red.  Again leave for an hour to develop.

Place the sponge cake onto the board and using the large rose nozzle, fill the piping bag with black butter icing.  Starting just above the one cheek, cover the top of mickey’s face with rosettes of black icing.  On the top of the ears, pipe a ring around the outer edge and then work inwards in circles.

Next cover lower half of eyes to make pupils, nose and outline of mouth

Next mix the powdered fondant icing with just enough water to make a very firm paste (which will hold it shape when pulled up into peaks) and pipe the whites of the eyes.

Using black and the small rose nozzle, pipe a black outline round the eyes and also a wavy line across the face under the eyes (see picture below).

Using the pink icing and the large rose nozzle, cover the rest of the face with stars

Finally using the red icing and small nozzle, fill in the mouth

If you want to personalise the cake with a name/age you could either pipe this onto the board or, as I have done, used some red fondant icing and cut the letters out using icing cutters.

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If you like to take cakes into work to share at Christmas, why not try taking a Christmas Cake.  Not only will you be very popular, but it can be a chance to be creative with the decorations.  If your workplace has a logo or even sells a specific product, you could use this as a basis for the decoration. (Please remember company logos are the the property of that company and cannot be used on cakes that are for resale). 

 Below is a cake I made for a member of my family to take into the camera shop where they work.

The Christmas Trees were made from cones of green coloured fondant icing with the branches being created by snipping into the fondant icingwith a pair of pointed scissors.  I then mixed a little green petal dust in with a few drops of Rejuvenator Spirit and used this to paint over the trees.  Finally using a fine artists brush I dotted different colours over the trees to resemble lights.

The snowman is made from two balls of white fondant icing with flattened coloured balls of fondant as buttons and eyes with a cone of orange fondant icing for the nose.  The hat is simply a flattened ball of black fondant placed on the snowman’s head and a second piece of black fondant icing rolled and flattened at each end to give the top of the hat. All pieces will stick together with a little cooled boiled water. The camera stand and camera were made from shaped pieces of fondant icing, which were allowed to dry before assembling with a little royal icing as ‘glue’.  The silver paint was created by using silver petal dust and Rejuvenator Spirit.  A little white royal icing was roughly spread on the top of the cake to resemble snow.  This also gives you something to stick your models to the top of the cake.

The letters were made using cutters and the coloured ‘underline’ was created from small strips of white fondant, painted with food colouring once dry. 

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As These little cakes are such fun to give as presents, I have included some more.  If you are making a larger cake, you can increase the ingredients and bake one of these small ones at the same time.  For example if you want to make an 8″ round cake, make a 10″ mixture and put the extra in the 4″ tin.

 You may click on any picture in this guide to enlarge it

This was decorated with a Father Christmas which was made using a ‘Father Christmas Plunger Cutter” and white fondant icing.

The cut out figure was left to dry for two days and then painted using edible colours.

The balloons around the side were made from red fondant ising and cut out with different sized piping tubes.  A large cream tube for the big balloons and a standard icing tube for the small ones.

A small amount of royal icing, coloured green and a fine writing tube was used to create the little ‘strings’ around the balloons and trailing up the sides of the cake.

Once again the balloons have been used to create a simple but effective decoration on the side of the cake, while letter cutters have been used to create the ‘NOEL’ on the top.  The letters are cut out of red fondant and placed on the cake straight away and left to dry in position.  I use a small dedicated artists brush to moisten the backs of the letters with a little boiled water.  This helps the letters to stick to the top of the cake.

Once dry a little white royal icing can be piped on the top of the letters to create the effect of snow having fallen on them.  It is important to ensure that the red letters are completely dry as the icing will turn pink.

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These little cakes are baked in a 4″ tin and make lovely gifts for family and friends.

 You may click on any picture in this guide to enlarge it

An 8″ round cake recipe will make 3 of these cakes or alternatively if you are making a large cake for example an 8″, use a 10″ recipe instead and make one small cake at the same time.

Feed and wrap for a couple of weeks before decorating.

To Decorate

You will need a 6″ board and box.  These are available by mail order from a Piece of Cake Thame.
500 grams marzipan
500 grams fondant
Coloured fondant to decorate

Cover the cake in Marzipan and Fondant

To mark round the side of the cake where the frills are to go, take a piece of greaseproof paper long enough to go around the cake and then fold it in half.  Using a cup or other round object draw a semi-circle and cut this out.  Place against the cake and using a pointed modelling tool or the point of a knife, mark along the top of the paper template to create an indentation in the fondant.

Using a small writing tube, pipe small dots or shells around the base of the cake.  Leave to dry.

Make holly leaves and berries

Using red fondant, roll out thinly.

Using a frill cutter or a biscuit cutter and an egg cup to make the centre hole cut out a circle.

Make a cut through the fondant frill and open up.

Using a small dowel and some cornflower, carefully work round the circle by rolling the dowel from side to side to ‘frill’ the fluted edge of the fondant.

Cut the ends to make them straight and tidy.

Using a small clean artists brush and some cool boiled water, brush a little water over the indents you made on the side of the cake.

Gently lift the frill and place the one end on to the dampend indent on the cake and working along this mark, gently press the frill onto the cake.

Using a modelling tool or a cocktail stick, gently lift the bottom edge of the frill from the cake to arrange into folds.  Continue round the cake and leave to dry overnight.

When dry take a small artists brush and gently brush off any cornflour.  Repeat with a white fill directly above the red one.  When the second frill is in place, using a small pointed knife, trim the top edge of the frill where it is joined to the cake to make a neat edge.  If the frill starts to fall from the cake just brush a little water onto the cake and re-attach it.

Using white royal icing and a writing tube, pipe a line of dots along the trimmed edge of the frill.  At the top point of each curve, pipe a line of dots up to the top edge of the cake.

The top of the cake can then be decorated.  If you have made large cakes, any left over holly leaves and berries can be used on the little cake.  Holly leaves around a Christmas Roses are also effective and a Pointsettia is a simple but effective decoration.

 
Starting with the large cutter and progressing down to the smallest, cut out 10, 9, 8 and 7 petals.
Dampen the top of the cake with a little boiled water and start to arrange the large petals in a flower shape leaving a small space in the centre.  As you lay the petals, bend some of them so they do not lay completely flat.  Continue with the smallet petals placing the next size in between the last size.

Taking the yellow fondant make 5 small balls.  Roll the ball to make a small cone shape and use a Ball Tool to hollow out the cone.  Paint the centre of the cone with a little green food colouring and place in the centre of the flower with a little royal icing. 

Display in box.

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This whisked sponge is much lighter than a traditional Victoria Sandwich.  It benefits from being kept in a sealed tin for 24 hours before decorating/eating to become lovely and moist.

To make the sponge

3 eggs
3 oz (85 g) Margarine (melted)
5oz (142 g) caster sugar
4 oz (114 g) flour (sifted)
Half teaspoon vanilla extract

2 x 7″ round sandwich tins, greased and floured

Set oven to 180 deg C, 350 F or Gas Mark 4.

Using an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until mixture is light and creamy and leaves a trail when you take the whisk out of the mixture.  Gently Fold in the melted margarine and then the sifted flour and vanilla extract.  Stir just enough to mix in the flour as mixing too much will ‘knock’ the air out and the sponge will not be light.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for approx 15 minutes until the cake is firm to the touch and appears to be shrinking from the edges.  Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

This cake can be flavoured as follows:

• Grated rind of a lemon or orange stirred into the mixture with the flour.
• One Teaspoon of coffee granules disolved with one teaspoon of boiling water.  Leave to cool before adding with the melted margarine.
• Cocoa can be used to replace 1 oz of the flour and sifted in with the rest of the flour.  It helps to add half a teaspoon of baking powder to the chocolate recipe.

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Ribbon insertion is very simple to achieve but gives a very impressive look to your cake and is certain to get that ‘wow’ factor.

You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

You will need
Cake covered with fondant icing
Coloured narrow ribbon (available from all cake decorating shops)
A pair of scissors
Tweezers
Greaseproof paper
Pointed knife

Cover the cake with fondant icing and leave for 24 hours to firm slightly and create a skin on the surface.

Take the ribbon and cut out lots of small pieces approx 1 cm in length and put to one side.

Decide where you want the ribbon to be on the cake.  In the picture above, it is used to edge the top of the cake.  To ensure it is evenly spaced from the edge, a template is made from greaseproof paper.

Cut a circle of greaseproof paper smaller than the diameter of the cake and lay it on top of the icing.  Being careful not to press your fingers into the icing, cut slots into the icing on the cake using the template as a guide.  Make the slots in pairs approx 0.5 cm wide and 1.0 cm apart.

Using the tweezers, carefully insert one end of a strip of ribbon into one of the slots of a pair.

Carefully bend the ribbon over and push into the second slot.  You may find the the point of a blunt knife helps.

Continue round the cake

When you have gone all the way round.  Using the flat of your hand, rub over the top of the ribon to smooth out any rough edges and to push the ribbon into place.

Leave to dry fully and decorate as required.

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This cake may be preferred if you have children as it has chocolate mini eggs and little chicks.

You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

You will need

8″ round baked Simnel Cake
500 grams marzipan
Seedless jam
Small amount of Royal Icing
Bag of chocolate mini eggs
Small Chicks (these are available from card shops for a few pence each)
10″ round cake board
Baking parchment
1 mtr ribbon

Take the baked simnel cake and place on the cake board.  Using the tin it was baked in as a template, roll out marzipan and cut out a circle.

Spread the top of the cake with the jam and place the cirle of marzipan on top.  Smooth surface and gently ease the edges of the marzipan over the edge of the cake to give a smooth finish.

Place a saucer on top of the cake and using a flat bladed knife, ‘draw’ round the saucer.

Using the remaining marzipan, make 11 (13 if you want to include all the disciples and Jesus)  balls and place evenly round the edge of the cake.

At this point you can put the cake under a medium grill to toast the marzipan balls as in the Simnel Easter Cake or you may prefer to leave it as it is.

Fill the centre of the circle with Royal Icing and spread out.  Press the chocolate mini eggs into the icing at the edge of the circle and place 2 little chicks with a couple of eggs in the centre.

Cut 2 strips of baking parchment the same depth of the cake and cover the outside edge, using tape to keep in position (see Simnel Easter Cake).

Finally attach the yellow ribbon around the cake and tape into position.  I tend to use the paper type florists ribbon.  The remaining ribbon can then be used to make a bow and the rest torn into thinner strips. Using the blunt edge of a knife, place the strips between the edge of the knife and your thumb, press hard and pull the strips towards you to create frills.  Tie several together and tape to the cake using double sided sticky tape.

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This cake is very easy to decorate and as it does not have any icing it is not too sweet.

You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

You will need

8″ round baked Simnel Cake
500 grams marzipan
Seedless jam
10″ round cake board
Baking parchment
1 mtr ribbon

Take the baked simnel cake and place on the cake board.  Using the tin it was baked in as a template, roll out marzipan and cut out a circle.

Spread the top of the cake with the jam and place the cirle of marzipan on top.  Smooth surface and gently ease the edges of the marzipan over the edge of the cake to give a smooth finish.

Place a saucer on top of the cake and using a flat bladed knife, ‘draw’ round the saucer, then mark criss cross lines within the cirle you have marked.

Using the remaining marzipan, make 11 (13 if you want to include all the disciples and Jesus)  balls and place evenly round the edge of the cake.

Place the cake under a medium grill until the  grid and balls are golden brown.

Cut 2 strips of baking parchment the same depth of the cake and cover the outside edge, using tape to keep in position.

Finally attach the yellow ribbon around the cake and tape into position.  I tend to use the paper type florists ribbon.  The remaining ribbon can then be used to make a bow and the rest torn into thinner strips. Using the blunt edge of a knife, place the strips between the edge of the knife and your thumb, press hard and pull the strips towards you to create frills.  Tie several together and tape to the cake using double sided sticky tape.

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This is traditional Easter Cake and is fairly Easy to make.  It is simply a fruitcake with a layer of marzipan cooked into the centre of the cake.

You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

Recipe

225 grams (8 oz) butter
225 grams (8 oz) caster sugar
4 eggs
500 grams (1 lb 4 oz) mixed dried fruit
115 grams (4 oz) cherries (halved)
275 grams (10 oz) SR flour
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbs milk
675 grams (1 lb 8oz) marzipan

8 inch round cake tin, greased and lined

Beat butter and sugar together until soft and creamy.  Beat eggs together and add to the mixture.  Add dried fruit to the flour and spices and mix to coat the fruit with flour.  Fold the fruit and flour into the mixture.  Add milk and stir in.

Roll out the marzipan and using the base of the tin as a template cut out a circle.

Spoon half the cake mixture into the prepared tin and spread out.  Place the marzipan round on top of this and gently press down.

Add the rest of the mixture and spread out to give an even surface.

Cover the outside of the tin with 2 layers of newspaper and bake in the preheated oven at 160 deg for 1 hour.  Reduce to 150 deg for a further one and a half hours or until the cake is cooked.

Note.  If testing if cake is baked using the skewar method, be aware that the melted marzipan can look like raw cake mixture.

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These lovely little buns are double chocolate muffins decorated with buttercream and white and dark chocolate hearts.  They are quick and easy to make and one popped into your partner’s lunch box would be a romantic gesture.  It could also have the added benefit of being a gentle reminder in case they had forgotten.

You may click on any image in this guide to enlarge it.

You will need

Chocolate muffins (see Double Chocolate Muffins)
2oz (57g) butter (softened)
4oz (113g) icing sugar
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
25 grams white chocolate
25 grams dark chocolate
Small heart shaped cutter
Baking Parchment

Bake the muffins and leave to cool.

Melt the white and dark chocolate in separate bowls in a microwave or over a bowl of hot water.
Spread the melted chocolate onto baking parchment until it is approx 1cm thick.  Leave to cool until set.

Once the chocolate is set, cut out equal amounts of dark and white chocolate hearts.

To make the buttercream

Beat the butter until light and creamy and stir in the sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder.

Spread chocolate butter cream generously onto each muffin and gently press into the butercream one white and one dark chocolate heart so they overlap one another.

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