Christmas Tree Cake

This cake was made for an exhibition while I was a student at Brooklands College. Brooklands is a centre of excellence for sugar craft.It is a polystyrene dummy so no scrummy cake inside.

I had to meet certain criteria when making this cake in order that it would be accepted as a display piece.

It can be quite tricky to stick to guidelines when making an exhibition or competition cake. I am always tempted to do my own thing which may be very satisfying for me but is not always the right thing to do.

The cake had to be hexagonal in shape and one tier. It had to display certain techniques including piping, embossing and the use of tools to create frills.

I used the frill as the skirt of the tree, under which miniature fondant presents sit. The presents were fiddly but fun to make.

I plan to enter a competition piece through my local sugarcraft guild and then at the International Craft and Hobby Fair at the NEC in November 2009.