Bonfire cake?

[bedmonster]

Hi all, we have an annual bonfire gathering and this year it coincides (very nearly!) with one of our guests birthdays. I was hoping to make a bonfire cake. What do you think of a chocolate cake baked in a round tin, but the decorations 'thrown' on the top in a haphazard bonfire style? Like matchmakers and other sorts of confectionary (more suggestions needed!).
Do you think this would work or do you have a better suggestion? HELP! PLEASE!

You could arrange it more artfully like a bonfire. I've made a campfire cake before, making a sheet of boiled sugar with some red and yellow colouring, cracking it up and arranging as flames. matchmakers or chocolate fingers for wood and red and yellow m&m's for embers. Looked very good with the lights down low and the candles flickering.

Bonfire Cake from pinterest

Matchmakers make very good bonfire sticks, I normally cover mine in chocolate buttercream, then melt a little normal chOcolate and paint it onto rose leaves (washed first) leave to set, I then pipe a mix of red, orange and yellow buttercream in the middle and put the matchmakers leaning against it. , peel the leaves off the chocolate and put them around the bottom of the bonfire. If you want a little bit more fire colour you can put red,orange and yellow skittles or smarites between the logs.

Good god you your ideas are fab but possibly too ambitious for me! The sheet of boiled sugar looks great, how do you make it?
And with regards to using matchmakers/flakes/choc fingers etc as decoration, how long in advance could I do that? I made a cake for my DD earlier this year and stuck fingers all round the edges the day before but when we came to eat it they had gone a bit stale and the moisture had sort of been drawn out of them IYSWIM?
I'm really trying hard but don't have much knowledge - willing to give anything a go though!

Plain chocolate rather than biscuit covered chocolate should be fine if done the night before. If the icing etc. are too ambitious just go for the stack of matchsticks and use the coloured skittles or smarties as the fire, poked in amongst the sticks.

Okay, I have a clearer idea on the design now but still interested if anyone has a suggestion of how to do the sugar sheet?
What I really need is someone to do it for me and for me to take all the credit. Any takers?!

Make a chocolate cake in a pudding basin then make orange, yellow and red butter cream. Cover cake haphazardly with buttercream then use orange matchmakers to make the timbers. Top with sparklers and use liquorice pin wheels and hundreds and thousands and sweet shaped rockets on skewers for fireworks.

For the sugar sheet you need to put some caster sugar into a pan, do not add water, do not stir, heat it slowly and the sugar will start to melt and bubble, swirl the pan around to mix the browning bits in wit the paler bits to stop it burning, once the sugar is all melted and golden brown, add orange or red colouring, swirl the pan around to mix it in, take pan off the heat and pour out onto a sheet of baking parchment or well greased greaseproof paper.

Fab ideas blue and Kellestar.

Brilliant ideas all, pudding basin is a good idea to give the right shape and will have a try of the sugar sheet tomorrow. Although if I swirl to mix the colour in will i just end up with the whole piece being the same colour? Might it be best to just leave it patchy?
See? I really am clueless!

Bed, not your not, not everyone knows how to do everything, thats why i like coming on here, theres always someone who knows how to do things that you dont, we all have to learn.

If you swirl it well it will more or less all mix in, you can then add a few drops of red once you have poured it out and swirl them through with a toothpick to make flame-y streaks.

Bed, Blue is so good, she's given me advice more that once i can tell you.

I trust you! I am going to do it, and good idea re the toothpick. I am quite excited!
Thanks everyone for the advice, keep your fingers crossed for my cake!

We need photos mind!

You must be joking, i've just had a nosy at yours and blues pics and your bloody amazing the pair of you! I'm okay at the baking part it's the presentation that's my real downfall, but my family and friends don't mind, they appreciate what's on the inside thankfully for me!!

Alright alright, me again...
I'm going to have a trial run of this cake, (and we can turn it into cake pops later anyway) and i'm going to bake it in my pampered chef batter bowl as it's oven proof. Will a normal vic sponge cook okay in it? Seems like it will dry out around the edges long before the middle is cooked because the bowl is so big.

It should cook fine, I would cook at a slightly (10deg) lower temp and keep an eye on it. If the top looks like it is getting too dark you can always add a layer of greaseproof or foil to protect the top until the middle is cooked.

Quick update

Whoops!
Cake turned out well, thanks so much for all the advice!
Was a little crunchy around the edges but it went down a storm!
Haven't worked out how to put pics o.n here yet but when I figure it out, will let you know.
Thanks again, you were all fab!