cake decorators, please could you give me some tips on creating this...

[CobOnTheCorn]

Hi, It's DS2's birthday in about 10 days time and I'd like to make him a cake that looks something like this:

fire chief cake

Now, it may not end up looking anything like this but I'd like to have a go! I can do very basic piping and cover a cake with sugarpaste but I'm not in the same league as some of you, I've seen your creations and I'm in awe!

I've bought some fire vehicles to go on top of the cake, I need to change the shape from a rectangle to a square because it'll be too big otherwise.

Please could you give me some tips on creating the flames and what to ue to actually cover the cake with. If sugarpaste, then what colour?

Oh and finally, my cake tin is 20cm/7.5 " square, can you recommend a good sponge recipe (plain or choc) that won't dry out.

Thanks so much

I'll get you recipe on Monday, can't look for it now

get some block icing (like playdough, but sugar) I've done it many times, but can't remember the name grrrrr! ( is it sugar paste?)

once cake is cut in two and filled with jam or butter cream brush your cake with warm apricot jam (micro) then either

• roll out the icing to 5mm thick and place it on top of cake then decorate or

• place a layer of rolled out marzipan on cake first, moisten it with a bit of vodka or gin or any spirit, then place rolled out icing on top

trim to size

you could buy edible paint paste to draw flames straight onto the surface or colour bits of leftover sugar paste, cut to shape, then stick on with a bit of thick mixture of icing sugar and water

(start with mixing 150g icing sugar and 2 teaspoons of water, you literally will need to add drops of water after this to get a really thick glue consistency. if too runny add more icing sugar)

for green grass mix desiccated coconut with green food colouring and some icing sugar,

for sand/ground use demerara sugar

you can buy choc flake for wood/bark effect on ground and little sugar flowers/butterflies to give it a happy tone

hope this helps, any other questions?

Thanks amazingmum, really useful tips from you.

Grateful for a recipe on Monday. Ta!