how do I decorate a cake made in a castle mould?

[eeky]

I have just made a fabulous-looking castle cake for dd's 5th birthday tomorrow, using Nigella's buttermilk cake recipe. V pleased with the "bake" (pretending I am in gbbo...) and there is good detail of turrets etc. I haven't decorated anything like this before - am thinking that if I ice it all over I will lose a lot of the detail. I hate royal or fondant icing, so am thinking of 2 options:
Thin glace icing OR sieved apricot or raspberry jam, brushed all over. I am planning to then stick lots of sweeties and sprinkles on to make an abode fit for a princess. Am hoping that judicious sprinkling of icing sugar and the candles tomorrow will disguise any lack of talent!
Any advice?

Well loads of sweeties will make the details dissapear too surely?

this looks rather fab and would look even better with silver balls or scattered flowers.

Is that the kind of mould you used? Or is it the flat kind? like this?

If the flat kind I think the star tipped icing looks good as a cover all...as in the 2nd link.

if you're very opposed to icing like that though, then I would do the loads of sprinkles and sweets but in a planned way...so turrets of sprinkles and sweets for other details.

Eeky - it wasn't the Aldi castle mould was it? I just bought one last week and made an excellent sponge castle buy them had the same dilemma as you! Luckily mine was just got fun and didn't have the pressure of being for a special occasion.

What about simple buttercream?

Yes...buttercream piped in stars.

Hello all, just returned from dd's party and the cake went down very well - phew! I went with brushing it with apricot jam and then did a regular pattern with pink and white jelly beans, heart shaped sweets and pink and red smarties, on the turrets, on each corner and the door. I then did a light covering with pink and red sprinkles and a little edible glitter. A sprinkle of icing sugar and the candles did the trick. I really wanted to avoid lots of icing so that it was a bit less messy for small children to eat and easier to wrap up in napkins to take home. Dd also not a fan of icing and it was her birthday!

I would highly recommend this cake recipe, it's moist but quite robust if that doesn't sound off-putting, and a great flavour with the buttermilk and vanilla. I used 1.5 quantities of the recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess and just made it in the Magimix.

Yes, SingSongMummy, it is the Aldi castle mould; I bought it ages ago but I saw them for sale again recently. Think I got it reduced for £2! I used the cake release liquid that you brush the mould with and came out perfectly. I am already planning a knight's castle or a seaside themed sandcastle for ds later in the year...

neo, the Aldi mould is almost identical to the one in your first link. I think buttercream would be great for less messy clients...

Hi eeky

I am making the same cake, using the same mould for my 2 year old. Could you possibly let me know if you increased the measurements of Nigella's recipe to suit the larger size of the mould? If so how much by?

Thanks so much.

Hello there, I can't remember for sure, but I have a feeling I made an extra half quantity as remembered being very nervous about not filling the mould. I used the buttermilk you get in most supermarkets and used up the whole tub, so if this is 300mls, then x 1.5 quantities is right.
Good luck - it wasn't difficult