Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Christening Sampler

Ingredients

• 20cm/8in square rich fruit cake

• 45ml/3 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 450g/3 cups marzipan

• 675g/4 1/2 cups sugar paste icing

• brown, yellow, orange, purple, cream, blue, green and pink food coloring

MATERIALS/EQUIPMENT

• 25cm/10in square cake board

• fine paintbrush

• small heart-shaped biscuit cutter

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Method:

1. Brush the cake with apricot jam. Roll out the marzipan, cover the cake and leave to dry overnight. Roll out 150g/5oz/1 cup of the sugar paste icing to fit the cake top. Brush the top with water and cover with the icing.

2. Color 300g/10oz/2 cups of the icing brown and roll out four pieces to the length and about 1cm/1/2in wider than the cake sides. Brush the sides with water and cover with icing, folding over the extra width at the top and cutting the come~ at an angle to make the picture frame. Place on a cake board. With a fine paintbrush, paint over the sides with watered-down brown food coloring to represent wood grain.

3. Take the remaining icing and color small amounts yellow, orange, brown, purple and cream and two shades of blue, green and pink. Leave a little white. Use these colors It' shape the ducks, teddy bear, bulrushes, water, branch and leaves. Cut out a pink heart and make the baby's initial from white icing.

4. Mix the white and pink icings together for the apple blossom flowers. Make the shapes for the border. Attach the decorations to the cake with a little water.

5. Use the leftover colors to make "threads". Arrange in loops around the base of the cake on the board.