Adult Birthday -

Adult Birthday

Ingredients

2 egg whites
2 teaspoons (10 ml) lemon juice
450 g (1 lb) icing sugar, sifted
25 cm (10 inch) round fruit cake, covered with almond paste
1.2 kg (2 lb 10 oz) ready-to-roll fondant icing
Cornflower blue food colouring

YOU WILL ALSO NEED

30 cm (12 inch) round silver cake board
Waxed paper
Piping gun or bag set

Method

1 First make the royal icing: put the egg whites and lemon juice in a large bowl and stir together with a fork. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and beat for 10 minutes, until the icing sugar is white and forms soft peaks. Cover with damp greaseproof paper and put the bowl in a polythene bag in the refrigerator.

2 Put the cake on the cake board. Colour 1.1 kg (2½ lb) of the fondant cornflower blue. Roll out the fondant and use it to cover the cake. Trim the base.

3 Using a sharp pencil, trace the outline of 8 bunches of grapes, a cherub, a dancing girl, a tree and 2 potted plants on to a sheet of waxed paper. Using a fine plain nozzle and royal icing, outline the figures and objects traced on the waxed paper. Leave to dry for 10 minutes. Thin the remaining royal icing with a couple of drops of water. Pipe the thinned royal icing inside the outlines to fill the shapes completely. Leave to dry overnight.

4 Remove the paper from the shapes. Using a little royal icing, fix 8 bunches of grapes around the side of the cake, equally spaced apart. Arrange all the figures and objects on the top of the cake, then fix in place with royal icing.

5 Roll out the remaining fondant thinly and cut 8 strips, each 10 x 1 cm (4 x ½ inch). Twist the strips and fix to the side of the cake with royal icing, draping the strips between the bunches of grapes. Roll the fondant trimmings into 8 small balls, flatten and use to cover the ends of the icing ropes.

Related food category:

• Celebration Cake