Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Starry New Year Cake

Ingredients

• 23cm round Madeira Cake

• 675g butter icing

• 750g sugar paste icing

• grape violet and mulberry food coloring

• gold, lilac shimmer and primrose sparkle powdered food coloring

• fine paintbrush

• star-shaped cutter

• florist's wire, cut into short lengths

• 28cm round cake board

• purple ribbon with gold starts

---

Method:

1. Cut the cake into three layers. Sandwich together with three-quarters of the butter icing. Spread the rest thinly over the top and sides of the cake.

2. Tint 500g of the sugar-paste icing purple with the grape violet and mulberry food coloring. Roll out and use to cover the cake. Leave to dry overnight.

3. Place the cake on a sheet of greaseproof paper. Water down some gold and lilac food coloring. Use a paintbrush to flick each color in turn over the cake. Leave to dry.

4. For the stars, divide the remaining sugar-paste icing into three pieces. Tint one portion purple with the grape violet food coloring, one with the lilac shimmer and one with the primrose sparkle. Roll out each color to 3mm thick. Cut out ten stars in each color and highlight the stars by flicking on the watered-down gold and lilac colors.

5. While the icing is soft, push the florist's wire through the middle of 15 of the stars. Leave to dry overnight. Put the cake on the board. Arrange the stars on top of the cake. Secure the unwired ones with water. Secure the ribbon around the base.