Novelty and Fantasy Cakes Recipes - Liquorices Sweet Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm and 15cm square Madeira cakes

• 675g butter icing

• 45ml apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 350g marzipan

• 800g sugar paste icing

• egg yellow, black, blue and mulberry food coloring

• 25cm square cake board

• 4.5cm round cutter

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Method:

1. Cut both cakes horizontally into three. Fill with butter icing, reserving a little to coat the smaller cake. Wrap and set aside the smaller cake. Brush the larger cake with apricot jam. Cover with marzipan and secure on the cake board with butter icing. Leave to dry overnight.

2. Tint 350g/12oz of the sugar-paste icing yellow. Take 115g/4oz of the sugar-paste icing and Tint half black and leave the other half white. Cover the top and one­third of the sides of the cake with yellow sugar-paste icing.

3. Use the white icing to cover the lower third of the sides of the cake. Use the black icing to fill the central third.

4. Cut the smaller cake into three equal strips. Divide two of the strips into three squares each. Cut out two circles from the third strip, using a cutter as a guide.

5. Tint 115g/4oz of the remaining sugar-paste black. Divide the rest into four equal portions, leave one white and Tint the others blue, pink and yellow.

6. Coat the outsides of the cake cut-outs with the reserved butter icing. Use the Tinted and white sugar-paste to cover the pieces to resemble sweets. Make small rolls from the trimmings. Arrange on and around the cake.