We Used
More Than A Bird House Cutter Set by FMM
Pots & Urns Mould by Katy Sue
Textured Embossing Sheet – Hessian
Textured Embossing Sheet – Woodwork
Sattina 3 in 1 Modelling Paste
Royal Icing
Piping bag, Pme Writing Tube No. 1
Sattina Grass Green Sugarpaste (to cover cake)
Resin Gardener with Spade
PME Plunger Blossom Cutters
PME Plunger Heart Cutters for the leaves
Sugarflair Dark Brown Paste Colour (shed walls)
Sugarflair Apple Green Paste Colour (shed roof)
Sugarflair Paprika/Flesh Paste Colour (pots)
Sattina Dove Grey Sugarpaste (patio)
Rolling Pin
Easyflow Smoother & Polisher
Flat Palette Knife
Cornflour Pouch

With Father’s Day approaching it seemed a good excuse to have a play with the new bird house cutter set and pots and urns mould to create a fun gardening cake. Decorating the cake board always adds a bit of character to a novelty cake and so we used the hessian texture sheet to give the effect of a patio. Make the garden shed, pots and urns beforehand using a modelling paste, like Sattina 3 in 1, that will set firm overnight so you can create 3D models that will be free standing and strong.

Step 1

For the shed, colour some of the paste brown for the sides and a little ball of paste green for the roof. Roll out the brown paste on a dusting of cornflour and before cutting out any shapes, press the woodwork texture sheet on to the icing and roll over with a rolling pin to emboss the woodwork design onto it. Using the birdhouse cutter set, cut out the 4 sides of the shed as shown. Now roll out the green paste and cut out two rectangular shapes for the roof.

Leave for a couple of hours then turn all the icing shapes over so that they can start drying on the reverse side. Leave overnight to dry completely.

To assemble, colour some royal icing brown to match the colour of the shed and pop into an icing bag with a no 1 piping tube. Join the sides of the shed together by piping a line of icing carefully along all the edges that will touch each other and assemble the 4 sides before attaching the roof in the same way. Leave to set for a few hours before adding features like the door and windows (if you find it easier, you can add these features on while the sides and roof are drying flat still before assembling).

Step 2

To create the effect of a patio on the cake board, roll out grey sugarpaste large enough to completely cover the board then press the hessian texture sheet firmly onto it. Roll over once firmly with your rolling pin or use a smoother to impress the design onto the sugarpaste, then peel the texture sheet off leaving the effect of small square slabs.

Step 3

For the garden pots we used the Katy Sue pots and urns mould and coloured Sattina 3 in 1 modelling paste with Sugarflair paprika paste colour to achieve shades of terracotta. Dust the mould lightly with a cornflour pouch then push a ball of coloured paste firmly into the mould. Slice away any excess paste with a flat palette knife cutting from the middle of the mould outwards each time. The mould is flexible so if the pots don’t fall out straight away, bend the sides of the mould back slightly to ease them out, then leave to set overnight. If you want to make 3D pots, make both sides then stick together with edible glue before leaving to set overnight.

Once dry, fill the pots with sugar flowers and leaves. You need tiny flowers so we suggest using the PME small blossom plunger cutter which is the perfect size and to make the tiny leaves, the large PME plunger heart cutter which is still only tiny at 13mm across. Make a vein or mark down the middle of the heart with a veining tool or cocktail stick and squeeze the leaf very slightly as shown in the picture.