Coolest Iggle Piggle In The Night Garden Cake

I was asked to create a cake in the style of Iggle Piggle or a Pinky Ponk for my friend’s grandson on his 3rd birthday. I have been attending an evening class for cake decorating techniques for the last 6 months so thought I would give it a go. Alex is partially sighted so thought it would be nice to make a Homemade Iggle Piggle In The Night Garden Cake colourful but also touchable.

I started by preparing Iggle Piggle in advance to allow him to dry out. I used a 6 inch single thickness board which I moistened with clean water then I added a couple of mounds of white fondant to create small hills which I then covered with green fondant and created a grass effect by dabbing it with a clean nail brush.

I created a couple of ladybirds from a small pea size ball of red fondant and a smaller one of black for the head, these were glued with edible glue and a line marked down the middle with a knife and when these had dried out I painted dots on with edible pen and added a couple of tiny white dots for eyes. I used a daisy cutter for the daisies.

Iggle Piggle was made using pale blue fondant with a small pinch of tylose added to make him set firmer, using a large ball for the body and a smaller one for the head, the legs and arms were made from sausage shapes and then red trim added to feet and the comb on his head and small balls of white and black fondant to make the eyes. He was then placed a hill on the garden secured with edible glue and a blanket made from thinly rolled red fondant and formed to make a blanket. I left him to set for 2 weeks.

The cake was a 9 inch round jam and Madeira sponge which I baked myself to a height of around 2.5 inches placed on a 12 inch board and iced over with pale blue fondant taking this to the edge of the board and then crimped to give a neat edge. I cut out small circles of pink and lemon icing and stuck these round the side of the cake then I put the figure I had prepared earlier offset towards the back of the cake to allow room to pipe the greeting. I placed a small blob of fondant under the 6 inch board to secure it and then cut blossoms and placed them around it to hide the join. Finally I added some orange fins (which I prepared the night before so they would not flop) from rolled out pale orange fondant and used a rose leaf cutter. I finally piped his name and age on.