This Homemade Toadstool Birthday Cake is made from 2 cakes, a 9 inch round sandwich, which has been cut around the edges to give the top of the mushroom a curve; and a large tray bake which has 6 small circles cut out of it to make the leg of the mushroom. The cakes remain separate until final assembly.
Things you need: 9 inch cake board and 12 inch cake board, 3 plastic rods to support board, waxed paper, piping tubes and bags, fine wires(florists).
The leg of the mushroom is in diameter and made of 6 layers sandwiched with butter cream, then coated with buttercream and finally with fondant icing. I used plastic rods (purchased from local cake decorating shop-cut to the right length) to support the top and keep the leg together.
(Hint – rolling out fondant on a mixture of icing sugar and cornflour stops it sticking to working surface)
The top, 9 inches in diameter, 2 layers sandwiched together with buttercream then sculpted to form curved top of mushroom then covered in buttercream and then red fondant icing. The white spots are added afterwards. It sits on a cake board the exact size of the cake. I lightly moistened it and then sprinkled it with edible holographic glitter.
The fairies are runouts-royal icing piped on to waxed paper over a drawn outline found one on the internet {outlines of fairies search-pipe) then outline in normal thickness royal icing and then flood in with thinner royal icing of the desired colour (little hint, let your thin icing stand once colour is right shade so the bubbles can come up to top and only stir gently, then your flooded areas wont develop hole whilst drying. They need to be made at least a day before to allow them to dry properly.
When the fairies are dry peel them off papers by pulling the paper gently over a square edge so the fairies just glide off-keep a little royal icing to hand in case of amputation – the legs on mine dropped off a few and needed sticking back on. Attach wires to back of fairies with firm blob of royal icing and leave to dry again.
If you have time you can make tiny mushrooms out of individual mini Swiss rolls and marshmallow teacakes-the ones that are a biscuit with marshmallow and covered in chocolate/or inverted cup cakes to dress the board.
Assembly: using buttercream stick leg to large cake board and insert plastic rods. They should be exact length as height of leg cake. Then lay the mushroom top on top, finally adding the fairies by cutting the wires to different lengths some can stand on the cake and some can look as if they are flying. If you have enough fairies spare you can have some stuck to leg of mushroom so it looks like they are dancing round it.
Have fun, I did.
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