Frog cake

Ideally, make the frog and lily leaves a day in advance so they can dry well.

To make the frog, mix 150 gram modelling paste with holly green edible colouring gel. Make two large balls and put a cocktail stick through them, to form the head and body of the frog. Make a wide mouth with the cutting wheel and two nostrils with a cocktail skewer. Form two balls and roll them out elongated, press one side flat and cut toes into them. Stick these front legs to the body of the frog with edible glue. Now make the hind legs by doing the same thing, but with slightly larger balls. Stick the hind legs on the body with edible glue. Roll two small balls and flatten them to make the eyes. Make two smaller balls from a tiny piece of white fondant, press them flat and stick them on the green eyes. Push a black pearl into the eye bowls to make them complete. Stick the eyes on the frog’s head using edible glue.

For the lily leaves, roll out the remaining green modelling paste thin and cut out different sizes of leaves with the rose leaf cutter. Use the cutting wheel to make a cut to the middle and fold open a bit. Let this dry for a night a slice of parchment paper. Mix a small piece of white fondant with edible yellow colouring gel. Roll this out thinly on a work surface covered with Magic Roll-out Powder and cut out flowers. Make two same sizes per flower. Stick the two flowers together and let them dry. Stick a small ball of white fondant in the center of the flower.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (convection oven 160°C).

Prepare 300 gram of FunCakes Mix for Buttercream and 400 gram of FunCakes Mix for Sponge Cake as indicated on the packages. Grease the baking tins with Bake Release Spray and divide the sponge cake batter into the two pans. Bake the sponge cakes for 30-35 minutes and release them on a cooling grid right after baking. Flavour the buttercream to taste with a flavour paste.

Cut the sponge cakes in half by using the cake leveler. Fill and cover with buttercream. Use the side scraper to make it smooth. Let the cakes stiffen in the fridge for half an hour. Divide the remaining buttercream into four portions, colour them with the edible colouring gels bright green, holly green and aqua in two beautiful shades of green and blue. Use a spatula to wipe all four colours of buttercream against the cake. Turn the turntable with one hand and use your other hand to pull the cake tight with the side scraper. In this way, all colours mix nicely.

Place a cake board on the bottom cake, insert the dowels into the cake and cut to length. Place the smaller cake on this. Cut a few flower wires in half with the cutting tool. Mix the brown edible food colouring with a small piece of white fondant. Form reed canary grass cigars from this. Stick the cigars on the flower wires with a little bit of edible glue and wrap them with the flower tape. Complete the cigars with a mixture of white snow and milk chocolate edible colouring gels. Colour the rest of the fondant in different colours of green, roll it out thinly and use the cutting wheel to make long blades of grass.

Place the frog on top of the cake. Push two flower wires behind the frog into the cake and place the cigars on it. Stick green blades of grass against the flower wires so that they are no longer visible. Decorate the cake further by attaching lily pads, lilies, green blades of grass and the reed canary grass  with edible glue.