What was requested was: a GIANT Fondant Fancy, and a caterpillar cake. Both of which are apparently available in some supermarkets. But hey, I was never going to just go and buy the cakes.
Unfortunately as it was a long time ago, and I didn't write it down at the time, I've forgotten the details of what I used/recipes.
The fondant fancy was based on 2 victoria sponges (8" square) layered on top of each other, with about 225g (9 oz) of buttercream on top (75g butter, 150g icing sugar). This was all wrapped in a vast amount (1.2 kg) of ready roll icing.
The caterpillar cake was based on a chocolate roulade (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8568/chocolate-roulade) with truffles for legs (recipe at bottom), a rolled icing face and coated in melted chocolate. Very yummy!
Suffice it to say, they went down VERY well... though they did take a long time to eat (and the fondant fancy was VERY sweet!).
Recipe for truffles:
Ingredients - makes lots, depending on how big you make them!
100g (4 oz) plain chocolate
3 tbsp condensed milk
75g (3 oz) cake crumbs (I use a bought madeira cake, and freeze any left over for another day)
Cocoa powder/icing sugar to dust. about 25g (1 oz) each.
- Melt the chocolate and condensed milk in a double boiler (bowl over a saucepan of hot water). Make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water!
- Mix until combined, and leave to cool until sticky.
- Stir in the cake crumbs, and leave to cool a bit more. Once mostly cool, roll into balls and dust with the icing sugar/cocoa powder. Pop them in the fridge to set them if necessary. They can be shaped into anything you want too!
These truffles really are superb. Super easy, and if you use good chocolate, it pays dividends. Good for a little gift for someone, or a special treat.
MMFC