Novelty and Fantasy Cakes Recipes - Strawberry Cake

Ingredients

• 650g marzipan

• green, red and yellow food coloring

• 30ml apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 900g heart-shaped sponge cake

• caster sugar, for dusting

• 30cm round cake board

• icing smoother

• teaspoon

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Method:

1. Tint 175g/ 6oz/ generous 1 cup of the marzipan green Brush the cake board with apricot jam, roll out the green marzipan and use to cover the board. Trim the edges. Use an icing smoother to flatten and smooth the marzipan.

2. Brush the remaining apricot jam over the top and sides of the cake. Position the cake on the cake board. Tint  275g/10oz/scant 2 cups of the remaining marzipan red. Roll it out to5cm thick and use to cover the cake, smoothing down the sides. Trim the edges. Use the handle of a teaspoon to indent the "strawberry" evenly and lightly all over.

3. For the stalk, Tint 175g/6oz/ generous 1 cup of the marzipan bright green. Cut it in half and roll out one portion into a 10 x 15cm/4 x 6in rectangle. Cut "V" shapes out of the rectangle, leaving a 2.5cm/1in border across the top, to form the calyx. Position on the cake, curling the "V" shapes to make them look realistic.

4. Roll the rest of the green marzipan into a sausage shape 8cm/5in long. Bend it slightly, then position it on the board to form the stalk.

5. For the strawberry pips, Tint the remaining marzipan yellow. Pull off tiny pieces and roll them into tear-shaped pips. Place them in the indentations all over the strawberry. Dust the cake and board with sifted caster sugar.