Frosty Robin Cake

Fun to model and easier than you might think, these snoozing sugar robins make for a very cute cake

By The Good Housekeeping Cookery TeamPublished: 01 December 2020

We have a whole host of Christmas Cake decoration ideas, but we particularly love this Robin themed one chosen this year.

This decoration also requires overnight drying

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Yields:

20 serving(s)

Prep Time:

1 hr 30 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients

2
-3tbsp apricot glaze
20
.5cm fruit cake, see our Buttered Rum Christmas Cake
Icing sugar, to dust
500 g
natural or golden marzipan
500 g
white sugarpaste icing
Brandy, gin, vodka or cooled boiled water, to brush

To decorate

About 75g green sugarpaste icing
About 30g red sugarpaste icing
About 70g brown sugarpaste icing
About 20g white sugarpaste icing
Edible glue
About 5g orange or yellow sugarpaste icing
2
-3 Flake chocolate bars

You'll also need

4 1/2
-6cm holly or ivy cutter, or both
Small paintbrush

To finish, optional

Green and red lustre dust
Ribbon

Directions

1. Step 1A few days before you want to make the cake decoration, in a small pan gently warm jam to loosen. Pass through a sieve into a small bowl. Put cake on a board and brush top and sides with sieved jam. Set aside.
2. Step 2Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out marzipan until large enough to cover cake (see GH Tip). Lift on to cake and use your hands to gently smooth into position. Trim excess. Leave overnight at room temperature for the marzipan to harden slightly.
3. Step 3On the same day, line a baking sheet with baking parchment. Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out the green sugarpaste until it is 3mm thick. Stamp out holly or ivy leaves (or both) and lay on to some lightly scrunched foil sausages on the lined baking sheet, to help give the leaves some movement. Reroll and stamp out trimmings (you need about 25 leaves). If you’ve made holly leaves, use about 5g of the red sugarpaste to make tiny balls for the holly berries and add to the lined sheet. Leave to harden overnight.
4. Step 4When your marzipan has hardened, lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out the white sugarpaste until large enough to cover cake. Brush the marzipan with brandy/gin/vodka/water to moisten. Lay over the white sugarpaste, smoothing all over with your hands as before. Trim excess.
5. Step 5Transfer to a cake stand or plate. If you have time, allow the white layer to dry overnight at room temperature. If you don’t have time, carry straight on.
6. Step 6To model the robins: use about 25g brown sugarpaste to model the first body, shaping a head, plump breast and pinching out a tail (you can mark it with a knife to look like feathers). Repeat with 25g more to make another adult body, and about 15g to shape they baby bird body.
7. Step 7Next, using some of the red sugarpaste, make the hats. Shape 2 squat cones with about 8g sugarpaste each, hollowing out the bases a little to make space for the heads. Shape on to the adult heads, adding ridges with the handle of a paintbrush to give them more of a lifelike appearance. Next, make and attach a hat for the baby bird, using about 5g red sugarpaste.
8. Step 8Using some of the white sugarpaste, make bands for the bases of the hats and stick on. Mark with a knife, if you like, to add texture. To make the pompoms, shape small white balls and stick on to the tops of the hats using a little edible glue if needed.
9. Step 9Using remaining white sugarpaste, roll out thin ovals and stick to the birds' chests and sides, smoothing out the edges. Use the remaining red sugarpaste to make smaller red ovals to stick on to centres of the white chests, again smoothing the edges.
10. Step 10Finally, shape 6 wings using the remaining brown sugarpaste; 4 larger and 2 smaller. Stick to the sides of the birds, using edible glue if needed. Finally shape tiny beaks using the orange/yellow sugarpaste and stick to the birds' faces. Set robins aside (leave overnight on baking parchment to harden, if you have time).
11. Step 11If you like, lightly brush your holly/ivy leaves with some green lustre and roll the berries (if made) in some red lustre. Using a little edible glue to help stick, arrange a wreath around the top (and a little down the sides) of the cake with the dried leaves. Next stick on some red berries, if made.
12. Step 12Slice the Flake bars into shorter lengths, and lightly dust with icing sugar to resemble snowy logs. Arrange on your cake and sit the birds on top. If you like, secure a ribbon around the base of the cake and you’re good to go!

Get ahead:

Assemble up to 2 weeks ahead. Leave at cool room temperature.

GH Tip:

To measure whether your marzipan or sugarpaste is large enough to cover your cake, use a piece of string. Cut string so it’s long enough to go up one side of the cake, over the top (centrally), then down the opposite side. Lay this string on the rolled-out marzipan/sugarpaste to determine whether it’s large enough.