Special Occasion Cakes Recipes - Sweetheart Cake

Ingredients

• 20cm/8in heart-shaped light fruit cake

• 30ml/2 tbsp apricot jam, warmed and sieved

• 900g/6 cups marzipan

• 900g/6 cups sugar paste icing

• red food coloring

• 225g/1 1/2 cups royal icing

• large and medium heart-shaped plunger cutters

• 1m/1yd red ribbon, 2.5cm/1in wide

• 0.5m/1/2yd red ribbon,5mm/1/4in wide

• greaseproof paper piping bag

• medium star nozzle

• fresh red rosebud

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Method:

1. Brush the cake with apricot jam, place on the cake board and cover with marzipan. Cover the cake and board with  sugar paste icing. Leave to dry overnight.

2. Tint the sugar paste icing red. Cut out 18 large and 21 medium-size hearts. Leave to dry on greaseproof paper.

3. Secure the wide ribbon around the cake board. Secure a band of the looped ribbon around the side of the cake bead of icing. Tie a bow with long tails and attach to we of the cake with a bead of icing.

4. Using the star nozzle, pipe a row of royal icing stars around the base of the cake and attach a medium-size heart to  every third star. Pipe stars around the cake top, and arange large red hearts on each one.

5. Tie a bow on to the rosebud stem and place on the cake top just before serving.