Fairy Castle Cake

Image Copyright Owned by 'LITTLE BOOKS OF DELIGHT'

Preparation time 25 minutes plus 1 hour for decoration

Ingredients for The Icing:
• 100g (4oz) plain chocolate
• 225g (8oz) unsalted butter
• 350g (12oz) icing sugar
• 2 egg yolks

Ingredients for Decoration:
• 1x25cm (10in.) cake board
• 5 flat sweets
• 1 tube sugar-coated chocolate beans
• 3 small silver or gold doyleys
• Any bought decoration, such as candles, bumble bees, butterflies, or a fairy

Preparation:
1. Collect 3 empty food tins to bake the turrets in, one 450g (1lb) size; one 225g (8oz) size; and one 150g (5oz) size. Wash them and remove the labels. Use a 20cm (8in.) round cake tin for the castle base. Grease all the tins and line the bases with greased greaseproof paper. Set the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.

2. Half fill the food tins with the cake mixture and use the rest to fill the large tin. Bake the small cakes for 20-30 minutes and the large one for approx. 1 hour until well risen and firm when presses with the fingertips. Cool on a wire rack.

3. To make the icing; break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool but not set. soften the butter, then beat in the icing sugar, egg yolks and cooled chocolate. Beat until light and fluffy.

4. To assemble the cake: split the large cake in half and sandwich together with some of the icing. Set the cake on the board and ice the top and sides.

5. Carefully coat each turret with icing, inserting a fork into the base so that the cake can held with one hand while spreading the icing with the other. Set each turret on top of the cake, as shown in the photograph.

6. Push the sweets into the icing for windows and arrange the chocolate beans around the base, like crazy paving. Make a cut in each doyley from the outside to the center, roll them into cones to form roofs for the turrets and secure.

This recipe was published in 'StMichael, LITTLE BOOKS OF DELIGHT, Chocolate Cakes, POLLY TYRER - p52'