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Retirement
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Ingredients
1 egg white
1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon juice
225 g (8 oz) icing sugar, sifted
25 cm (10 inch) square fruit cake, covered with almond paste
1.8 kg (4 lb) ready-to-roll fondant icing chestnut, brown, red and golden yellow food colouring
Gold food paint
YOU WILL ALSO NEED
30 cm (12 inch) square silver cake board
106 cm x 6 cm (42 inches x 2 ½ inch) gold paper ribbon
Selection of leaf cutters
Piping gun or bag set
Method
1 First make the royal icing: put the egg white, lemon juice and icing sugar in a bowl and beat together until smooth. Cover with damp greaseproof paper and put the bowl in a large polythene bag in the refrigerator until required.
2 Put the cake on the cake board. Roll out 1.4 kg (3 lb) of the fondant and cover the cake. Trim the base.
3 Colour 100 g (4 oz) of the fondant pale chestnut. Roll out to a thickness of 5 mm ( ¼ inch). Cut 2 pieces, each 10 x 7 cm (4 x 3 inches), for the spine and book covers (front and back). Cut a 50 g (2 oz) block of white fondant 1.5 cm ( ¾ inch) deep and slightly smaller than the book covers. Using a little water, fix this piece to the back cover and spine. Score lines for the pages on the side of the white block. Put the book on the cake. Cut a 15 cm (6 inch) piece of gold ribbon for the bookmark. Lay the ribbon on the book. Roll out the remaining white fondant and cut a piece the same size as the book block, turn up the top right corner and place on top of the book mark for the front page. Position the front cover of the book and neaten the joins.
4 Divide the remaining fondant into 4 equal pieces. Colour 1 piece dark chestnut, 1 brown, 1 red and 1 golden yellow. Roll each piece out thinly and, using various leaf cutters, cut out several leaves in each colour. Score the veins on the leaves with a sharp knife. Fix the leaves around the top and sides of the cake by dampening them with a little water.
5 Using a fine plain nozzle, pipe the royal icing into ears of corn shapes in between the leaves. Leave to dry.
6 Using gold food paint, paint the ears of corn and the message on the book. Leave to dry. Fix the gold paper ribbon around the cake, using a little royal icing.
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