Ice Cream Cone Cake

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas 3 and grease 2 medium hemisphere cake pans with Cake Release or softened butter. To make the cake, beat the butter until soft in a mixing bowl with an electric whisk, then add the sugar and whisk until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, add the vanilla extract then gently fold in the flour.
2. Place the cake pans on a baking sheet, using cooking rings to keep them steady, and divide the cake mix evenly between them. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out cleanly. Leave to stand for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
3. To make the ganache, gently bring the cream to the boil in a saucepan. Place the dark chocolate into a glass bowl, pour the cream in and stir until the chocolate has melted. Beat the mixture together then place in the fridge to cool and thicken.
4. To prepare the mixture for the cone, gently melt the butter and marshmallows in a large pan, stirring until the marshmallows have completely melted. Remove from the heat and set aside 3 tbsp of the mixture. Gradually add the cereal to the pan, stirring until well coated.
5. To assemble the cake frame, connect the 3 medium rods and 1 short rod together, fix into the centre hole of the base and blank off the other holes. Using a small palette knife, spread the reserved marshmallow mixture thickly over the central support. Attach the medium platform to the top along with another short rod, using a collar to hold them in place.
6. To make the cone, lightly coat your hands with vegetable oil and press clumps of the marshmallow mixture on to the central support, pressing down well with the back of a spoon. Once the cone is roughly formed, invert it over a small heavy bowl and carefully remove the cake frame base to make finishing off easier. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour then use a sharp knife to trim off any excess mixture and neaten the cone.
7. Set a little of the ganache aside then cover the inverted cone with the remainder, using a palette knife to spread it evenly. Return the cone to the fridge for 1 hour until the ganache has hardened.
8. Divide the icing into 700g, 200g and 10g blocks ready for colouring. Following the Colour Right instruction chart, add colour as required to make 700g Summer Sand icing, 200g Summer Blue icing and 10g Summer Red icing. Wrap each individually in cling film until needed.
9. Make a template by wrapping a piece of baking parchment around the cone, marking out the shape and then cutting around it ─ it should look like a skirt. Lightly dust a flat surface with icing sugar and roll out the sand icing until it's large enough to fit the template on top then cut to shape with a sharp knife. Score a criss-cross pattern on the icing and wrap it around the cone, trimming off any excess with a sharp knife. If desired, use a cake airbrush kit to lightly spray brown colour onto the cone to add depth of colour.
10. Melt the white chocolate and, with a small palette knife, spread a layer of chocolate about 1.5cm wide around the edge of the larger end of the cone then press 100s & 1000s into the chocolate. Reattach the base with the lock nut and turn the cone the right way up.
11. Neaten the edges of the cooled cakes and cut two-thirds off the top of one, discarding the domed piece. Set aside 40g frosting then colour the remainder with a few drops of pink colour, swirling the icing gently with a palette knife to create a ripple effect. With the cut one on the bottom, sandwich the cakes together with a little frosting and attach them to the top platform with a little more frosting.
12. Smooth pink frosting over the cake with a palette knife then, using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, use the remaining frosting to pipe rosettes around the base. Leave to firm up for about 1½ hours.
13. Melt the remaining ganache until just runny and use a teaspoon to drizzle it down the top of the cake. Leave to set. Make a cherry out of the red icing and vanilla pod or liquorice, pipe a swirl of white frosting on top of the ganache and add the cherry.
14. On a flat surface lightly dusted with icing sugar, roll out the blue icing to a 25.5cm circle, cut a 3cm hole in the centre and slice from the centre to the outside to create a collar. Attach to the base plate with a thin layer of frosting, sprinkle the soft brown sugar around the base of the cone and finish off the edge with ribbon.