Gloverly Cupcakes

Christmas cakes are my favourite type of cake to decorate, it’s how Em and I first got into cake decorating when we were little. We always used to choose a design and have a go at making it. It always makes me feel Christmassy! This year I decided to make a big cake, as you can never have enough fruit cake. Click here to find out more about my Christmas bird house cake.

I baked 2 8” square fruit cakes using Delia Smiths recipe – still my favourite. I then made a template from cardboard and used it to cut the two square cakes. So now we have an iced cake and plenty of off cuts too! I then stuck the two cakes together with jam and marzipan before covering the whole thing with marzipan. It was really easy to cover as I cut rectangles and did each side separately.

The sides of the birdhouse were rectangles of brown sugar paste which I used a tool to carve the wood grains into. I then cut a hole in the front and used some darker brown to create a neat edge. The edging for the roof in pale brown was made using florist sugar paste as I needed something that would be stiff and firm to work with. For the roof I covered a piece of card and used edible glue to attach it to the roof, I needed to use something light as icing or gingerbread would have been too heavy. I used brown sugar paste and my oak bark silicone mould to make the bark tiles for the roof, I used the impression mat and cut circles out which I glued to the roof in a pattern.

The birds, snowflakes, poinsettias and holly were all made with florist sugar paste and left to dry before attaching to the cake. Finally the fence around the outside was made with florist sugar paste and attached to the edge of the board.