"Let Them Eat Cake -Afternoon Teatime Cake"

I fancied having a little fun baking today, and this is how my “Afternoon Teatime” cake came about. I used a Madeira cake this time for my sponge base, which has a denser crumb than a Victoria sponge for fondant icing. The teatime objects on the cake could be made the day before, giving plenty of time for them to dry out before adding to the cake.

Afternoon Teatime Cake

Serves 6 –8

Ingredients
For the Madeira cake
350g (12 oz) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
250g (9 oz) soft butter
250g (9 oz) caster sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1½ tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp milk
Apricot Glaze
1 tbsp apricot jam
4 tbsp water
For The Icing
700g (1½ lb) fondant icing (sugar paste)
Edible colour pastes –of your choice
Edible glitter
Icing sugar
A round cake board 20cm (8 in)
You may also need a small paintbrush to colour the fondant cups, teapot, plates, serving plates etc, if using.

Method

Grease and line a 20cm (8 in) round springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C /325°F/Gas mark 3.

In a mixing bowl add the butter and caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg a little at a time until fully combined. Sieve the flour and baking powder together then fold in gently with a large spoon. Ad the lemon juice and the milk add fold in carefully.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level the top with a spatula. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 1½ - 1¾ hours or until golden brown and firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 1o minutes before turning out to fully cool on a wire rack.

When the cake is cooled completely in a saucepan add the apricot jam and water and heat gently together until full combined. Cover the top and sides with this jam from the saucepan.

Colour 350g (12 oz) of the fondant icing. Roll out on a lightly dusted work surface of icing sugar. It needs to be large enough circle to cover the whole cake. Carefully place the rolled icing over the whole cake and smooth the top and sides cutting off any surplus icing around the bottom. Re-roll the surplus icing into a sausage shape and stick with the apricot jam to the bottom of the cake all the way around and making sure it is smooth.

With 175g (6 oz) of the fondant icing, roll out on a lightly dusted work surface of icing sugar. It needs to be large circle enough to cover as a tablecloth. With a little water and a pastry brush lightly damp the top of the cake (not the sides) of the coloured icing already on the cake. Centrally place the icing tablecloth onto the top smooth down to stick. With a little water and a pastry brush on the side of the icing for the tablecloth, stick a section down then leave a section carrying on until you have like a fluted edge as in the picture.

With the remaining fondant icing, colour and shape the fondant icing into plates, sandwiches, cakes, buns, teapot, cups and saucers, spoons and cake slice. Using a little water to stick the items down onto the top of the cake. Add a little edible glitter to some of the cakes for that extra sparkle.

Note. If the cake is becoming to brown in the oven before it is fully baked, add a circle of baking paper over the top to prevent it burning.

You can take a small paintbrush and add dabs of edible colour onto your figures if you choose to do so.