I absolutely love making this chocolate fingers and Smarties cake. I made a 6 inch version of this cake last year for Maisie's birthday. It really is very simple and yet makes a grand entrance every time.
I decided to make it again for Simon's 40th birthday party as it's so easy and effective. This time however, I needed a lot more cake. I always think adding a second tier to a birthday cake has a much greater impact than just making a bigger cake, and this style of cake really lends itself well to having a second tier.
I made a 6 inch and an 8 inch Madeira cake and placed both of the cakes onto a thin cake board the same size as the cake. I then just inserted cake dowels, that had all been cut to the same length, for the top tier to sit on.
These dowels were cut about 1 or 2cm above the top of the bottom cake as I wanted to leave room for Smarties - it also meant that I didn't have to level off my cake too accurately.
With careless regard for how little time I had to make this cake, I asked Simon what theme he would like for his birthday cake and he flippantly suggested Scooby Doo. (!) I briefly had amazing ideas of jaunty haunted houses with ghosts and bats flying around and a Mystery Machine on top... and then I came to my senses and decided to attempt just a Scooby Doo figure with a number 40. Ever so often I need to remind myself to be realistic...
I'm not in a position to give you a tutorial for Scooby as this is the first figure I've made out of sugar and so I'm certainly no expert. My Scooby looks like he's eaten a few too many Scooby snacks, but I did have fun making him.
I'm slightly embarrased to post him, as he's pretty amateurish, but hey, it's all good birthday fun! I made him out of flower paste or gum paste
(which sets harder than roll out fondant icing) and I coloured him with concentrated paste colour. He did come to life a little after I added a few touches with a black Sugarflair pen
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(which sets harder than roll out fondant icing) and I coloured him with concentrated paste colour. He did come to life a little after I added a few touches with a black Sugarflair pen.
I made my number 40 banner out of flower paste too. I printed out the number 40 in the Whimsy font. This font is perfect for this project as it's nice and chunky, so not too fragile when it's made out of sugar. Mine's about 8cm tall - the bigger it is, the easier it will be to cut out of paste later... I then cut out my paper number to use as a template.
I coloured my flower paste in blue and green and rolled it out to about 4mm thick. I then laid over my '40' paper template and cut it out with a craft knife. I cut some bamboo kebab skewers down to size and then sandwiched them between the back of my number and a scrap piece of flower paste and glued all 3 together with some edible glue
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After my numbers had dried, I iced around the edge with white royal icing and stuck on some mini Smarties.
Then of course, I needed somewhere to stick my skewers so that they would stand up. I did try just inserting them into the cake, but they were too heavy and there was a risk of them just slicing through my cake. I didn't have any cake picks to hand, so as a last resort I skewered 2 holes into poor Scooby's back and left him to dry completely.
My unfortunate Scooby actually did a pretty good job of holding up my sign and from a distance it all looked pretty good.
My unfortunate Scooby actually did a pretty good job of holding up my sign and from a distance it all looked pretty good.
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Supplies needed
- 6" and 8" Madeira cakes. I use this Madeira cake recipe.
- Jam for the cake filling.
- Buttercream for the cake filling. I used Dr Oetker vanilla buttercream for speed.
- 6" and 8" cake cards or thin cake boards to go directly under the cakes.
- Thicker 8" and 10" cake boards.
- 4 cake dowels to support the top tier.
- Smarties.
- Chocolate fingers - about 43 for the 6" cake and about 56 for the 8" cake.
- Chocolate to melt for the cake tops and to 'stick on' the chocolate fingers.
- A few metres of ribbon.
- Flower paste or gum paste.
- Edible Glue
- Flower paste colours.
- Kebab Skewers.
- Black Sugarflair pen.
- Royal icing.
- A piping bag.
Related post :-
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| Chocolate Fingers and Smarties Birthday Cake |
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