Amscan 9902318 Cake Pick Banner - Gold

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Preheat the oven to 180degrees C / 160degrees Cfan / gas mark 4. Take your rectangular baking tin, line with baking parchment and grease well.

Take the next two sponges and cut holes in the middle of the cakes, 4cm from each edge. With my cakes, this was a rectangle of 18 x 13 cm and I used a ruler and a sharp knife to make sure the holes were precise. Put the cut-out sponges to one side.To make the buttercream icing, whisk the butter well until smooth and very pale. Gradually add the icing sugar, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and up to 1 tablespoon of water to loosen, if needed. Add the gel colouring a little at a time, mixing well until the desired shade is achieved. Cover the bowl and set aside (ideally overnight) until ready to use. The colours will continue to develop over time, so don’t panic if the colour isn’t right immediately. Preheat the oven to 180 degreesC / 160degreesC fan / gas mark 4. Take your springform cake tin, line with baking parchment and grease well. The smaller sponges for the submarine have the same ingredients as the cakes above but baked in a loaf tin, greased and lined with baking parchment. Each cake takes a mix of 2 large eggs, 112g unsalted butter, 112g caster sugar, 112g plain flour, 1½ tsp baking powder and the zest of 1 lemon (plus the juice of half a lemon) in each cake. Using curved strips of yellow and green fondant, wrap the base of the cake to give the effect of ocean contours and the sea bed. Attach these to the sides of the cake with a little buttercream. To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric hand whisk or in a stand mixer. Pour in the icing sugar, add the vanilla paste and mix slowly on the lowest setting on your mixer until completely incorporated.

Warning: this is a big cake! It’s made of four separate chocolate sponge cakes. Make each sponge cake one at a time with 4 large eggs, 225g unsalted butter, 225g caster sugar, 175g plain flour, 50g cocoa powder and 2½ tsp baking powder. You might want to make the sponges over a few days, in which case wrap them well in cling film to prevent them from drying out. Colour small amounts of fondant icing with all the colours you will need and wrap each ball in cling film to prevent it from hardening or drying out.Sift in the rest of the flour and baking powder and fold them in. Be gentle but make sure the mixture is fully combined, including any flour at the bottom of the bowl. Put this into the cake tin, smooth the batter out with an offset palette knife and bake for 45-50 minutes. Use a serrated knife to slice any doming from the tops of the sponges. Invert one of the cakes and place it upside-down on top of the other. Cut the cake into the shape of Love Monster’s body (look at the recipe image for reference). Keep all the carved pieces of cake, as you will use them for the arms and ears. Soften the square edges with a serrated knife, trimming around the top of the cake. Remove the top layer and spread a small amount of the buttercream onto the base layer, ensuring you fill all the way to the edges. Place a small amount of buttercream in a piping bag and pipe a strip around the edge of the base cake to act as a dam. Fill the inside of the dam with a small amount of jam, if using, and spread it out evenly. Replace the top sponge, then cover the entire cake with a thin layer of buttercream to seal in all of the crumbs.