Children's Party Cakes Recipes - Floating Balloons Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm sponge or fruit cake, covered with 800g marzipan, if liked

• 900g sugar paste icing

• red, green and yellow food coloring

• 3 eggs

• 2 egg whites

• 450 icing sugar

• 25cm round cake board

• 3 bamboo skewers, 25cm, 24cm and 23cm long

• small star cutter

• greaseproof paper piping bags

• fine writing nozzle

• 1m fine colored ribbon

• 8 candles

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Method:

1. Place the cake on the board. Tint 50g of the sugar-paste icing red, 50g green and 115g/4oz/1 cup yellow. Cover the cake with the remaining icing. Use just under half the yellow icing to cover the board.

2. Using a skewer, pierce the eggs and carefully empty the contents. Wash and dry the shells. Cover them carefully with the Tinted sugar-paste and insert a bamboo skewer in each. Use the trimmings to stamp out a star shape of each Color. Thread on to the skewers for the balloon knots.

3. Trace 16 balloon shapes on to baking paper. Beat the egg whites with the icing sugar until smooth and divide among four bowls. Leave one white and Tint the others red, green and yellow. With the fine writing nozzle and white icing, trace round the balloon shapes. Thin the Tinted icings with water. Fill the run-outs using snipped piping bags. Dry overnight.

4. Stick the run-outs around the side of the cake with icing. Pipe white balloon strings. Push the large balloons into the centre and decorate with the ribbon. Push the candles into the icing around the edge.