Festive Baking

Explore your creative side with these cute little cake decorations! Cake decorating doesn't need to be complicated, simply take some fondant icing and let your imagination run wild...

My first Christmas penguin cake!

Hi everyone! Whilst not technically crafting, I just couldn't resist sharing some Christmas baking ideas with you. This was my first proper attempt at cake decorating EVER, so I hope you can see how easy it can be! All you need is some fondant icing and a level of attention to detail - my penguin design was inspired from a cartoon picture of a penguin online, so I didn't even need to worry about the design. Put on some festive tunes in the background and you'll have some gorgeous homemade cake decorations in no time!

Method

The beauty of these decorations is that they can be adapted to any cake, of any shape or size. Simply whip up your favourite recipe (mine is my Grandma's chocolate cake) and get ready to decorate.

Firstly, cover your cake with roll-out icing. Roll your icing out on a non-stick surface (I used greaseproof paper scattered with icing sugar) until it's around half a centimetre thick, and large enough to cover the top and sides of the cake. Curl it up loosely around the rolling pin, dusting well with icing sugar in between the layers to stop them sticking. Lift the rolling pin and slowly unroll, covering the cake in icing as you do so. Then smooth the icing around the edges of the cake from the top down (there are special tools which can do this, but I just used the side of a flat butter knife) - stretching the icing slightly as you do so will prevent large clumps which are hard to flatten out.

Quick tip #1: If your cake has risen in the middle and you'd rather a flat surface to decorate, simply slice off the top with a sharp knife while it's still in the tin.

Quick tip #2: If it goes wrong, don't panic! Roll-out icing is fairly easy to peel off and re-roll (but if it's covered in cake crumbs, it could be better to use a new piece).

Penguins in progress!

To make the penguins, take a chunk of white fondant icing and mould it into a body shape, pinching slightly around the neck. Then roll out a thin layer of black icing and lie the penguin on it; curl it around the sides of the penguin and use a sharp knife to cut out detail, such as the 'v' shape for the penguin's forehead. As long as you don't work too slowly, the layers of icing should be sticky enough to hold together without the need for any glue.

Roll out black dots for eyes and cut an orange triangle for the beak, and also press orange feet on the bottom of the penguin - I find that using a cocktail stick or fork to create a webbed impression can be quite effective. Finally, mould as many other decorations (like hats and skis) as you'd like - this is where you can let your imagination do the work! For that extra sparkle, add some snowflakes or glittered snowballs, made by rolling small amounts of white icing into a ball and covering with edible glitter.

Materials:

- Baking ingredients, including icing sugar

- White, black and orange fondant icing

- Edible glitter (if desired)

- Rolling pin, fork/cocktail sticks and a sharp knife.

I found my icing in Sainsbury's, but this will be stocked in any baking retailer. You could also try making your own and dying it with food colouring, or mixing two colours of fondant icing together (think PlayDough!).

These were so much fun to make, even if my penguins did turn out a little square-shaped - let me know if you can do better than me!

Amy x