Children's Party Cakes Recipes - Circus Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm round sponge cake

• 115g butter icing

• 45ml apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 450g marzipan

• 450g sugar-paste icing

• red and blue food coloring

• 115g royal icing

• edible silver balls

• 3 digestive biscuits

• 25cm round cake board

• small greaseproof paper piping bag

• No 5 star nozzle

• 5cm plastic circus ornaments

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Method:

1. Split and fill the cake with butter icing. Place on the cake board and brush with apricot jam. Cover with a layer of marzipan then sugar-paste  icing.

2. Tint 115g/4oz sugar-paste  icing pink, then roll into a rope and stick around the top edge of the cake with a little water.

3. Tint half the remaining sugar-paste  icing red and half blue. Roll out each color and cut into twelve 2.5cm squares. Stick the squares alternately at an angle around the side of the cake with a little water. Pipe stars around the base of the cake with royal icing and stick in the edible silver balls.

4. Crush the digestive biscuits by pressing through a sieve to make the "sand" for the circus ring. Scatter over the top of the cake and place small circus ornaments on top.