How do I make this cake

[Meepmoop]

Hi,

I want to make the attached cake for my sons birthday but I've never made a birthday cake before. Our local cake makers are all booked and my cake making friend is on holiday.

I'm going to do a basic jam and cream sponge but how do I ice it and how far in advance do I make the cake. I'm guessing it's going to take hours so over a couple of days?

I've got a feeling it's going to be a cake fail but I want to give it a go

It's harder than it looks, icing Could I suggest one tier to make it easier on yourself, otherwise you risk the top part squashing the bottom? I bought plain icing ready to roll, you need icing sugar to sprinkle when rolling it out, and a big smooth surface. Get ready for your entire kitchen to be sticky I then coloured balls of the plain icing with the colours I needed - this was a false economy, the colour got everywhere and I was constantly scrubbing my hands between colours. If I were doing it again I would just buy the pre-coloured icing - sure it's different for experts but I am definitely not one. Could you try making some of the fish / decorations out of play dough as a practice to see how difficult it is or if you have a knack for it? Might help you decide whether to go for it! I made a cake iced as a rainbow with every character from the number-blocks standing on top and I was pretty pleased with it...but I'm not doing it again, plain cake covered in smarties this year

You can buy ready coloured fondant, so that’s the easy bit.

You can make the sponges in advance and freeze them so that will save you a bit of time. I would start the icing on a Thursday if you need it for a Saturday.

You will need to coat the cake in butter cream in order for
the fondant to stick (I would also put some butter cream on the base for the cake to stick to.

That cake looks quite high, am guessing it is four layers of cake. Madeira sponge is best for a cake with fondant.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvM1hVcRJmVWDtATYarC0KA

The YouTube channel might be helpful for the fondant bit.

I’ve made a few ameteur birthday cakes. Kids are only 5 &2 so not that many though!! My research and attempts confirm make Madeira sponge as if is a firmer cake (more flour in it than same of everything oz and half as many eggs standard sponge). It lasts longer, personally I make cakes in day 1, ice on day 2, eat on day 3 and they have been fine. If I can I try to make and ice same day but I always start too late so they are still warm and can’t be iced yet. Big round cakes, thinner cook faster, maybe 3 or 4 per tier, sand wich with jam and butter cream then coat in thin layer of buttercream (crumb coat) leave to set for a bit (fridge in thus weather) . Add more buttercream on to stick the fondant on, buy ready coloured fondant and you can always knead bluebinyo white to make twice as much paler blue - the ratios are screwed up in that a big block if blue and a massive block of white still look almost the same colour.

These cutters might be useful

Do a Madeira cake, a sponge won’t be strong enough to hold that much icing.

Ready coloured fondant is great, get a fondant rolling mat, makes life so much easier.

Have a look on eBay for decorations/cutters.

She Who Bakes has a great Madeira recipe, designed for holding heavy icing.

Oops hit post without preview for typos. Sorry. I would use edible glue to stick the details on, I’m sure In Theory icing can be used to stick but glue is easier. Local cake shop or hobby craft sell ready made in colours and the edible glue too. Make all the details off the cake and stick on last - then if any of it comes out wrong you haven’t messed up the whole cake and can just re-space it all rather than have a gap!
Good luck and take pictures, you will be ridiculously proud no matter how shit it looks it will taste awesome

Beware if you freeze cakes-I’ve had buttercream split and icing slide off by icing when they’re frozen!

I would agree Madeira sponge.

Buy cake boards to make life easier too.

You’ll need a coating of buttercream over the whole surface before you put on fondant. Chill in fridge for a while to harden buttercream

Roll fondant larger than cake, not too thin-at least pound coin thickness, roll loosely over rolling pin to transfer and then unroll over cake from one side to the other. Smooth the top then gently down the sides. You need to ‘persuade’ it round the shape of the cake-don’t stretch down too much or it’ll split at the top. Trim the bottom with a knife. Don’t expect it to be totally smooth like the pic-bumps don’t matter!

I agree pre coloured fondant and some shapes you can cut out easily. I’d assemble you’re fondant shapes in advance and just keep in fridge.

Have a little cup of water and just dampen the back of each shape to stick to the cake.

Have fun!

Ps I’d stick to two tiers

Thanks everyone, you've been really helpful. Lots of things I didn't think
About I.e the height of the cake.
I will make a Madeira cake and buy pre coloured fondant.

Im a bit scared I'm being over ambitious but you don't know until you try I guess

YouTube tutorial for a similar cake

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMlk9ucZgSU

YouTube is your best bet. Anything you want to learn - you can find it there.

You could buy a ready-iced cake and decorate yourself, which saves much of the hassle. Try a local bakery who may have a basic iced cake ready to buy, or M&S ?

You can buy rods/dowels to put into the cake to keep them from collapsing with the weight of the top cake. After that it's a matter of rolling out the coloured fondant and placing it over the cake. It can be difficult to get it smooth and even - I'm not very patient. There are smoothing tools you can get that help. Edible glue, as mentioned by PP is probably best for sticking on the decoration