Christmas Robin Cake

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3. Grease the cake pans with Cake Release or a little butter.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs then gently fold in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder.
3. Divide the mixture between the cake pans, ensuring the surfaces are level then place on a baking sheet. To hold the pans steady, we recommend standing them on cooking rings. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
4. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
5. To decorate, spread half the frosting onto the flat surface of one cake then sandwich with the second cake to create a sphere. Sit the sphere gently on a cooking ring to hold it steady then spread a thin layer of frosting all over it, setting aside a little frosting for later.
6. Taking care to add just a little at a time, add brown colouring to the white icing until the desired shade is reached.
7. On a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, roll out 200g of the brown icing into a 28cm circle. Place the icing over the cake and gently smooth it down the sides, pinching it together on the underside and carefully smoothing out any creases with your hands. Fix the cake to a board with the leftover frosting.
8. Roll out the red icing into a circle and cut it into a heart shape for the robin’s red breast. Stick it to the front of the cake with a little water.
9. Roll out the remaining brown icing and cut out two wings and a tail then stick these to the cake with small dabs of edible glue.
10. Colour a pea-sized piece of moulding paste black and shape 2 eyes. Colour another pea-sized piece yellow and shape a small beak. Stick the eyes and beak onto the robin with edible glue. For the finishing touch, dust the cake with icing sugar to create a wintry scene.