I’ve not been completely idle since my last post on here, what feels like an age ago.  Mostly I’ve not been making stuff, but with budgets tightening we have been looking to cut costs wherever we can, not least of all in terms food, anyway, it turns out that flour and yeast is significantly cheaper than shop-bought bread, so I’ve been making bread (and scones, more of which later) if nothing else.

The bread I’ve been making is based on a recipe by Jamie Oliver, except that recipe makes a loaf so salty as to be entirely inedible, with a reduction in salt and addition of a couple of other ingredients I’ve been making something far more palatable, here’s what you’ll need:

• 2lb strong flour
• three satchets of fast action yeast
• 1 table spoon of salt
• 3 table spoons of sugar
• 1 pt tepid water
• 2 table spoons of olive oil
• fresh ground pepper

And what you need to do:

1.  Sieve the flour into a large bowl

2.  Make a large well in the flour

3.  Put salt, sugar, yeast and pepper into the well

4.  add a little of the water

5.  gradually mix the ingredients together maintaining the well for as long as possible and gradually adding the water (you may not need all of it), it will become porridgey in constitency:

6.  Once the well has collapsed empty the bowl onto a clean work surface and begin gently kneading the dough and catching up any remaining dry ingredients, feel free to add extra water, to create a firm dry dough.

7.  Knead the dough for about five minutes or until smooth and stretchy

8.  Return the dough to bowl and cover for 30 minutes, this is the first proving.  Leave the bowl somewhere warm and dry – I’ve been using the top of the stove or the poly-tunnel depending on the weather.  This is what it looked like when I started:

and after 30 minutes:

9.  Once the dough has risen, turn it out of the bowl and knock the air out.  Divide the dough into two and place in two loaf tins, cover and allow to prove for a further 30 minutes.  After patting and before proving it look like this:

I can never get them to be exactly the same size and on this occasion one of them was hideously deformed when I put it in the tin, t’is all good though!  After 30 mins they had risen to this:

10.  Once the bread has risen place in a pre-heated oven at about 180C or 160C in a fan oven.

11.  Bake for 25 minutes, you may need to add another five minutes depending on your own oven.  The loaf should have turned a mid-brown colour and sound hollow if you knock on the bottom.

12.  Leave to cool on a rack, like these two marvellous loaves here:

13.  I like to cut off an end and ‘test’ it with butter while it’s still warm – yum.

14.  Slice and use as you will … or take some arty-farty pictures of them:

Cake pops are little balls of cake stuck onto lolly pop sticks and covered in chocolate and sprinkles, like so…

The kids and I spent a few hours this afternoon coating our cake balls in chocolate.  A somewhat onerous task but the result is well worth it.

You need:

• Cake – any sort, ready made, packet, from scratch, bought…it really doesn’t matter.
• Cake Frosting – you can buy this in tubs from the cake aisle in the supermarket
• Cake Covering – I’ve read not to use chocolate as it doesn’t get runny enough
• Sprinkles
• Lolly Pop Sticks

So, once your cake’s made or taken out of the packet crumble it into fine crumbs.  Mix with spoonfuls of the frosting at a time until it’s a doughy texture.  Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Melt a small amount of cake covering.  Roll cake mix into balls (about an inch big), dip the stick ends into the melted cake covering and stick them into the balls.  Put them in the fridge again for another 15 minutes.  Melt the rest of the cake covering.  Take the balls out of the fridge and dip each ball into the cake covering.  Turn them to the side and tap the excess covering off the ball on the side of the bowl (there’s a bit of a knack to this and the video below shows how to do it).  Stick the lolly stick into a piece of foam or old egg box and place in the fridge to set.  That’s it!  If you want sprinkles put them on when the covering is wet but not dripping.

It’s easy, it’s fun and it uses loads of dishes.

Just to prove how easy it is, the kids made these ones for their dad who is grafting away at a Craft Fair at Penicuik High School today….note our use of the egg box because we couldn’t get the sticks to stand up properly in the foam!  The ones on the right were made by a four year old and the ones on the left by a seven year old….like I said…easy!

And here’s how from an expert…

First things first, happy [belated] birthday Jolene!!  Her birthday was actually last Thursday, but alas work commitments took her away to far flung and desperate lands so we had to postpone the day until Saturday.  As is now traditional in the house Jo was allowed to choose what sort of cake she wanted and I must say I was delighted when she chose this rather simple Cinnamon and Hazelnut Cake … it’s been a long weekend, but that’s another story, or indeed another post!

This is an easy one, what you’ll NEED:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 200g/8oz self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3tsp cinnamon
• 4tbsp milk
• 4 rounded tbsp chocolate spread
• 50g/2oz hazelnuts, roughly chopped

What you need to DO:

1. Whack your oven on to around 180c/Gas 4/fan 160c … I actually set my oven about 20c below this although whether that’s because it works better or simply because my oven doesn’t heat up right is a mystery, certainly a lower temperature avoids any nasty charring!
2. Line the base of a 20cm/8in tin and grease the side and base … you’ll want a spring-form tin or one with a base that pops out.
3. Pop all of your ingredients (excepting the hazelnuts and choc spread) in a mixer and whizz until fluffy … if you don’t have a mixer or a processor, pop them in a bowl and develop some of those under-used muscles in your fore arm!
4. Tip 3/4 of your mixture into the pan and add four separate dollops of choc spread, top off with remaining mixture.
5. Using the side of a spoon/skewer/butter-knife/some-such swirl the mixture around a bit … don’t go nuts though …
6. … speaking of nuts, sprinkle the hazelnuts over the top.
7. Cover the tin with foil.
8. Place in oven for an hour, before checking, if it looks ready check it with a knife (push the knife in  the middle, if it comes out clean it’s ready), if it’s not ready leave for another 15 minutes and check again.
9. Let the baked cake cool for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Although we’ve not tried it I do reckon this cake would be great with a drop of custard on it … enjoy!

Finally, it’s time to decorate the cake!  It’s only been two months but now is the moment we’ve been waiting for, it’s time to finish it in advance of the main event … the eating!

First thing you need to do is turn your cake onto an appropriately sized cake base or plate, I use one of the thicker bases rather than the flimsy cardboard jobs you can buy.

Adding the marzipan

Some people don’t like marzipan, and some freaks even remove it from the cake before eating it.  This is sacrilege of the highest order and you must not be tempted to skip this step!  The sweet almond flavours are an essential part of the cake and serve to combine with the rich fruity and rummy goodness of the actual cake to set the taste buds into overdrive!

Personally I’m not making my own marzipan or icing this year, although I have done in the past, it’s not entirely essential.  If you do want to make your own marzipan (and it really is worth it) then you can find the recipe in Part 2, here.  No, this year I’m using the supermarket stuff for speed and simplicity (although I’ll give you the Royal Icing recipe below if you want to try your hand at it).

You’ll need:

c. 600g marzipan
Apricot Jam
Icing Sugar

1. Thinly spread the jam over the top and sides of your cake, this is the ‘glue’ that’s going to bind your marzipan to the cake.
2. Dust your surface, rolling pin, and marzipan with icing sugar to stop the marzipan sticking to everything.
3. Roll your marzipan to the desired depth, I normally aim for c. 2mm in thickness, although it’s not a huge issue.
4. Using a sharp knife and the base of the cake tin in which you baked the cake cut a circle out of the marzipan  and place it on top cake.
5. Roll out your remaining marzipan into manageable sized rectangles the height of your cake and apply the around the sides, pinching the edges together so that your entire cake is covered.
6. Using any left over marzipan roll some thin sausage shapes to pack out the inevitable gaps around the bottom, remember it doesn’t need to be pretty we’re just looking to get a good shape so that when we cover it with the icing it does look good!
7. Dust your hands with some icing sugar and run them over the marzipan to smooth any lumps and bumps as best you can.

Adding the icing

For me Christmas Cake means royal icing, indeed, the royal icing we had when I was little was fairly inedible due to it’s concrete consistency … honestly, you could have used it for home building!  Fortunately icing has never been my strong point so I tend to opt for the shop bought stuff which is a lot softer.

If you’re making your own icing you might like to try the recipe below for which you’ll need:

• 3 egg whites
• c. 750g / 1.5lb / 5 cups of icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 – 1.5 tsp glycerine (optional)

1. Whisk the egg whites until they’ve gone nice and frothy but not so much that  they go stiff (remember it’s not meringue we’re making!).
2. Gradually beat in half of the icing sugar.
3. Add the lemon and glycerine and gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar until it stands in peaks.
4. Cover your bowl with a damp cloth and leave it for a couple of hours before using.

As I’ve said I tend to use shop bought icing, although avoid the pre-rolled stuff like the plague, honestly it’s more trouble than it’s worth.  We’re essentially looking to do the same with the icing as we did with the marzipan except in a single piece.

1. Think calm thought, remember, there’s no point ruining your day by stressing about a cake.  If you have any minor decorating cock-ups I’ll give you a clue at the end on how to hide them.
2. Thinly spread some more apricot jam on top of the marzipan, again this is your ‘glue’, you could also use a thin solution of sugary water if you prefer.
3. Roll out your icing so that it’s large enough to cover the top and sides of the cake when draped over it.
4. Carefully centre your icing on top of the cake and smooth the top.
5. Starting at a single point begin smoothing the icing down the sides of the cake slowly and carefully working your way around the cake avoiding any creases.
6. A point will come when a crease is inevitable, make a vertical cut at the peak of the crease folding one part under and trimming off the excess.  Smooth the edges together.  Do this for the remainder of the sides of your cake.
7. Dust your hands with icing sugar and smooth the icing down aiming to get rid of any obvious lumps and bumps.
8. Add any decorations you may wish to have on your cake.  If any need stuck on make up some thin icing using water and icing sugar.

As you can see, I’ve kept things simple with a light dusting of icing sugar, a couple of wee decorations and a cake ribbon around the sides.

The ribbon hides any rough edges where the creases got the better of you and the icing sugar hides the fact that the evil pre-rolled icing I was landed with came apart in the middle!  Personally I’m not overly concerned about how the cake looks, so long as it’s vaguely Christmas cake like.  For me it’s all about the flavour and from that point-of-view this really is The best Christmas cake in the world .. ever! as proven by the self-confessed Christmas cake haters who even enjoy a bit of it’s fruity, rummy, Christmasy goodness!

I hope you and yours enjoy the cake you’ve made as much as me and mine will enjoy this one … Merry Christmas!

Parts 1, 2, and 3 can be found here, here, and here.

Christmas is almost upon us and we should be looking to decorate the cake in within the next few days, I suspect that I’ll be aiming for Monday, although only so I can get a post up here, otherwise I might be inclined to leave it for a couple more days and either do it on the 22nd or 23rd.

Now is the time to make sure your cakes ‘rum content’ is appropriate for the time of year, or if you prefer to ensure that the cake is good and moist.  Technically we’re talking about the ‘squelch test’.

To perform the ‘squelch test’ you should gently press the back of your clean hand against the top of the cake and listen for a gentle squelch and it should also feel a little moist on your hand.  If, like me, you’ve neglected to feed the cake at regular intervals now is the moment (over the next few days) to make up for lost time by adding double doses of rum!

If you’re satisfied that your cake is already moist enough don’t add any more, similarly if there are little rummy riverlets streaming from the underside you may wish to leave it well alone to allow the cake to dry out a little, either way don’t worry about it … it’s still going to be delish!

Also, if you’re making your own marzipan and icing now is the time to make sure you have the ingredients, take a look at part 2 for the details.  Part 1 and Part 2 can be found here and here.

A little post about making marzipan and a reminder that your cake needs fed …

The world’s best Christmas cake … ever! – Part 1 can be found here.  It’s not too late to begin, but you do need to get a move on now … there’s feeding to be done!

Feeding the cake is pretty much where we left things last time, since then I’ve been feeding my cake sporadically and in varying quantities although it should amount to the same as would have been fed were I more organised and reliable than I am!  The cakes should be starting to feel moist to the touch and remember if you feel it’s getting too wet just hold-off on feeding it for a while, there’re no hard and fast rules here!

Homemade marzipan … it’s sublime.  I’ve made my own marzipan in the past, and I must be honest and say that it tastes so-o much better than the shop bought stuff.  You don’t need to make your own, indeed I won’t be making my own this year as I’ve found it to be rather expensive in the past and we’re not as affluent as we once were … not that I’m complaining you understand, life simply moves on and I’m not about to dwell on the past, be it good, bad or indifferent.

If you do decide to make your own marzipan, by all means assemble the ingredients now but don’t go racing ahead, wait until you’re going to decorate the cake and do the marzipan at the same time.

This recipe should make about 1kg / 2lb and you’ll need:

• 250g / 8oz caster sugar
• 250g / 8oz sifted icing sugar
• 500g / 1ib ground almonds
• i tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp almond flavouring / extract
• 2 egg yolks. beaten

1. Combine the sugars and ground almonds in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Add the lemon juice, flavouring and enough egg yolk to make a firm but pliable dough.  If you make the mix too ‘wet’ use some icing sugar to counter the effect.
3. Transfer to a lightly sugared work surface and knead the dough until it is smooth.  The marzipan is now ready for use.

It has been suggested that the marzipan can be stored for up to two days before use if it is wrapped in foil or film and kept in the refrigerator, I strongly recommend though that you make it immediately before you need it and use it then.

I will be decorating our cake on around the 20th if you wish to follow the recipe at that point you will need:

• approx. 1kg / 2lb marzipan (homemade or shop bought … it’s up to you)
• Apricot jam, for ‘gluing’ the marzipan and icing on
• approx. 1kg / 2lb of royal icing (homemade or shop bought … again, it’s your call)
• whatever decorative bits n’ bobs you want  …

If you’re making your own Royal Icing you’ll need:

• 3 egg whites
• approx 750g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 – 1.5 tsp glycerine (not compulsory)

In the meantime, remember to keep feeding those cakes, and don’t forget to buy (or make) something nice for your nearest and dearest :)

Not many people like your average fruit cake, most people don’t like your average fruit Christmas cake … I don’t make average fruit Christmas cakes.  And everyone like them. 

When I was little I remember Christmas cakes as being dry and largely unpalatable, the grown-ups seemingly forced themselves to partake – it was Christmas after-all – meanwhile the children were bribed by the promise of a greaseproof paper wrapped ‘thrup’nny bit’ that might lie within the fruity goodness … of course you just had to take care not to break a tooth or choke on the thing!

I’ve been making this cake for the last four or five years and it’s become as much a part of the tradition of Christmas as any other part with the cake being ceremoniously divvied up and distributed amongst the various households in the family … actually, it’s more than a tradition.  It’s a requirement.

The recipe is simple in itself, so anybody should be able to manage it, it just takes a really long time … about 2 months in total.  Although you could cut this back to about a month if you are particularly disciplined, I’m not so it takes longer.

What you’ll need to make the cake (decoration comes later):

• the finely grated rind of one orange
• the juice of one orange
• 500g/1lb seedless raisin
• 250g/8oz sultanas
• 250g/8oz dried currants
• 60g/2oz dried dates, stoned and chopped
• 175g/6oz glace cherries, halved
• at least 1/4 bottle of dark or spiced rum
• 250g/8oz molasses (dark brown) sugar
• 250g/8oz butter
• 4 eggs
• 250g/8oz plain flower
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
• 70g/2oz ground hazelnuts
• 30g/10z chopped hazelnuts

Masochists amongst you will probably wish to do this by hand … personally I prefer to use a food processor.  Also, before you start, make sure you have enough time, making the cake mix will take about 30 – 40 mins while the cake itself will take around 2 – 2 1/2 hours to bake in the oven.

Also you’ll need a 23cm/9″ cake tin, I use a spring form one … makes life an awful lot easier.

Part 1 – Stage 1

1. Put your orange rind, raisins, sultanas, currants, dates and cherries in a bowl and mix.
2. Add the juice from the orange and 150ml / 1/4 pint of rum to your bowl and mix.
3. Cover and leave the mixture somewhere for a couple of days mixing periodically (all the liquid should either coat or be absorbed by the dried fruit).

Part 1 – Stage 2

1. Line your cake tin with a double layer of greaseproof paper.
2. Cream your butter and suagr together until fluffy or chop your butter into little cubes and bung it in the food processor with sugar and leave it on until it appears light and fluffy.
3. Using your aching arm beat the eggs into your mixture orbBreak your eggs in to the food processor and whizz.
4. Meanwhile sift your flour, salt, and spices together and then fold into your mixture – sorry, you’ll need to do this bit by hand … make sure you have a large bowl for this.
5. Add the ground nuts, chopped nuts, and the fruit mixture and gently mix it all together.
6. Put your concoction in the cake tin (that you should have already lined) and level it off.
7. Place the bowl to one side for later.
8. Put a double layer of greaseproof paper over the top of your cake tin (feel free to press it gently against the mixture).
9. Bake your cake for an initial 2hrs.  I use a fan oven at 140C, in a conventional oven I’d guess about 150C-160C and in a gas oven I have no idea.
10. You now have some time to kill, get a spoon and ‘like out’ the bowl, why not have a wee rum and coke too.
11. Remove your cake from the oven and using either a skewer or a sharp knife check if your cake is ready by stabbing it, if it comes out clean it’s ready.  If it’s not ready return to the oven for 10 minute intervals and remove the greaseproof paper from the top.
12. Leave your cake to cool completely in the tin.

Burnt cake?  All ovens are a little different and  I’ve burnt the tops and sides of cakes in previous years as a result, generally though I tend to just trim off the burnt bits with a sharp knife, it’s what’s underneath that counts.  Obviously if you’ve burnt it to a cinder then best discard the whole thing!

Part 1 – Stage 3

1. Once your cake is completely cooled trim off the slightly rounded top, I use a bread knife - you can have the trimmings later with custard.
2. Taking your rum, pour a small measure into the cap (the rum we have has a tall cap) and drizzle this over the cake … we are now feeding the cake, the fruit will absorb the liquid
3. Keep your cake covered and in a cool place. I inherited a large cake tin, although a flat dinner plate with foil wrapped over should achieve much the same.
4. Repeat stage 2 every 3 days or so until a few days before x-mas.  This will give your cake a full festive flavour and also avoid the cake drying out, occasionally I’ll use a little orange juice instead of rum in order to maintain some kind of order, but the rum is key. It’s also worthwhile to turn your cake over periodically to prevent the liquids gathering at the bottom of the cake, do this maybe once every few weeks if the base is becoming saturated.  If you press the back of your hand against the cake and you get a satisfying ‘squelch’ without it being wet then you can probably reduce the frequency with which you add liquids.  It’s very much a question of judgement, just think of the cake as a sponge that you want moist but not dripping.

I’ll post some occasional updates on where my cakes at, this may give you a guide to feeding your own.  Probably the most important thing though is not to worry about it too much.

You may well be forgiven for believing that the only interest this site has is for needlework, carving, sculpting, painting or photography, yet there is another aspect to MadeStuff, stuff that we all make all the time, i.e. food!  Of course I’m not about to reproduce every recipe I ever complete on here, after-all, sausage and mash really isn’t that exciting … despite my exciting twist that I do with the potatoes … and the onions are to die for?!!!

Anyway, I was asked by a good friend if I would prepare a cake for his wife’s surprise birthday party.  So faced with a challange I thought I’d do my best to meet if not exceed expectations … people still talk about my cheesecake, although that’s for another day.

The cake itself was rather basic consisting of two elements, a basic 11″ square sponge part and a 20cm round white chocolate mud cake.

The recipe for the sponge cake is:

• 700g / 1.5lb butter
• 700g / 1.5lb caster sugar
• 700g / 1.5lb self-raising flour
• 12 medium eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4 – adjust accordingly for fan ovens (I put mine in at about 160C).
2. Lightly butter and line the base of your cake tin with greaseproof paper.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and pale in colour … I’m inclined to use a food processor for this part as I don’t have muscles like a shot putter!
4. Gradually beat in your eggs … I strongly recommend you do this by hand unless you have a proper mixer designed to do this sort of task, something like a big old Kenwood would do the job.  Otherwise it’s time to build some muscles and use your wooden spoon.
5. Sift the flour into your mixture a little at a time before turning out into your cake tin and levelling the mixture off with your spoon or a palette knife.
6. Bake for about 90 minutes, if your prone to burning your cakes like me my oven is then place some tinfoil loosely over the cake allowing space for it to rise.  Check and turn the cake in the oven after 60 minutes (don’t slam the door) and adjust temperature if you think it might be about to start burning.
7. When you think it’s ready, skewer the cake with a knife (or a skewer, but honestly, who owns one?), if it comes out clean it’s done. If not, pap it back in for another 10 minutes and repeat.

Once cooked, I allowed the cake to cool for an hour or so in the tin before turning onto a wire rack and allowed it to settle over night.

Meanwhile, I prepared the white chocolate mud cake with ganache (chocolate icing ;-) ) coating following this recipe:

• 250g unsalted butter
• 150g white chocolate
• 440g caster sugar
• 250ml milk
• 225g plain flour
• 75g  self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract/flavouring
• 2 eggs lightly beaten

white chocolate ganache

• 125ml double cream
• 300g white chocolate
• icing sugar to thicken

1. Grease a deep 20cm round cake tin with butter and line the base with greaseproof paper.
2. Heat butter, chocolate, sugar and milk together in a saucepan at a low heat to melt the chocolate and combine ingredients without boiling.
3. Pour mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool for 15 – 30 minutes … seriously, you must do this!
4. Preheat your oven to 160C / 325F / Gas Mark 4 … adjust fan ovens accordingly, I run mine at 140-150C for this.
5. Whisk the sifted flours into your mixture then stir in the vanilla and the lightly beaten eggs (if you didn’t cool your mixture you now have something akin to scrambled eggs … you were warned!)
6. Pour mixture into your cake tin and bake for about an hour, if your temperature’s too high it’ll burn, keep an eye on it and if it appears to be burning turn the temperature down a tad and loosely cover with foil.
7. After an hour’s passed, cover cake with foil and bake for another 45minutes … the cake will look like it’s about to burn, but be bold my friend.  Be Bold!
8. Test the cake to see if it’s ready by skewering as before, if it’s not ready give it another 10 minutes and repeat.
9. Stand cake in pan for 30minutes, before turning out onto wire rack to cool (I left mine overnight for decorating the following day).

The ganache is relatively simple although getting the consistency can be a nuisance.

1. Put your chocolate and cream in a pan and gently heat until the chocolate has melted and the mixture has a smooth and creamy texture … the colour can be off putting, an off white/yellow colour.  We’ll fix that in a moment ;)
2. Cover your mixture and refrigerate for 30minutes.
3. You may notice that the mixture remains runny, although it should thicken as it cools … although I think I’d still be waiting if that was always the case.  The mixture should be a spreadable paste, if yours isn’t add small quantities of icing sugar beating furiously until you achieve something that isn’t at all unlike well beaten and softened butter … the icing sugar should also whiten the mixture substantially.
4. Using a bread knife cut the top off your mud cake if it is domed (or trim off any burnt bits), so that you have a cake as flat on the top as it is the bottom.
5. Spread the mixture over your mud cake.

You should now have two cakes, one bare spongecake awaiting filling and icing, the other an effectively complete mud cake.  At this point I set the mud cake aside and concentrated on the spongecake.

For decorating the sponge cake I used:

• Shop bought rollable icing (cheating I know, bu’hey what can you do!)
• Shop bought writing icing (it comes in little tubes)
• Raspberry jam
• Apricot jam
• 140g / 5 oz butter
• 280g / 10 oz icing sugar

1. Trim off any burnt edges and remove the top if it has domed … we had the off cust with custard, very tastey!
2. I cut the cake into quarters before arranging on my cake base and using the base of my 20cm cake tin to identify the segments to be removed, I marked these out by scoring with a knife before cutting them out properly … the picture below should give you a clue.
3. I then cut each quarter lengthwise to create four ‘sandwiches’ and filled these with raspberry jam and a basic butter icing made by beating the butter until soft and then beating in the icing sugar (again I recommend a food processor!).
4. Taking one quarter at a time I rolled out sufficient icing to cover each, the apricot jam was warmed in the microwave before being pasted onto the sponge cake to act as a gluing agent … how you properly wrap the icing onto the cake is up to you, although I do recommend patience!
5. Your quarter should now be iced and you can arrange your five parts (1 mud cake and 4 sponge cakes) onto your cake base.
6. I used the writing icing to decorate, obviously your design is up to you.

For decorating the mud cake with the stained glass design I used:

• shop bought rollable icing
• black writing icing
• red / blue / yellow food colouring
• 1 stained glass design courtesy of stained glass artist extraordinaire Foley Stained Glass … the design I actually used was taken from here, or at least one corner of it!

1. The icing was rolled out to about 5mm before using the base of the 20cm cake tin to cut a circle.
2. I used the writing icing to imitate the leading from the window on the cake, obviously you shouldn’t use real lead as that would just be a little bit silly … madness and death may ensue … no really I mean it, heavy metals and food do not a happy bunny make.
3. The colours were then simply mixed and applied onto the cake with a clean brush, although I recommend testing the colours on an off cut of icing before applying to your cake.

Eventually you should have something like this … least I did!

The flowers at the bottom are inspired by Jolene’s sown trees and flowers that she has been doing recently, and as I’ve said the central image is based on the work of Fiona Foley of Foley Stained Glass fame and for whom this was for.

HAPPY [BELATED] BIRTHDAY FIONA!