Hi, I have a really good book called 'Quick and Clever Party Cakes' by Lindy Smith - £8.60 on Amazon - but I got it at a charity shop for £2. It has twenty different amazing cakes: a ladybird, caterpillar, space monster, a tractor, princess, rabbit, walrus, fish, cat, space shuttle, fighter jet, a party bag, car, shark, strawberry with a face, bee on a daisy, ballet star, a girl skipping, a shape sorter and a smiley face.
Good instructions with step-by-step pictures and recipes for sugarpaste, modelling paste, sugar glue etc. Her designs are all made out of madeira cake for which she also gives the recipe. She has pictures showing where to cut the cake to make the various shapes and how to fix them together.
She also has 'Shortcuts' for each design to make them simpler and quicker e.g. using liquorice for the antennae on the ladybird instead of making them out of modelling paste. The ladybird is quite simple and made in a 1 litre pudding basin.
I noticed she has another book out on amazon with a lovely purple elephant on the front cover!