Carousel Cake

This carousel cake is quite challenging but well worth the effort once it's finished!

You will need:

• 10cm (4in) cake tier, 13cm (5in) high
• 15cm (6in) cake tier, 15cm (6in) high
• 20cm (8in) cake tier, 13cm (5in) high
• 30cm (12in) cake tier, 8cm (3in) high, all covered in ivory sugarpaste (I used Couture) and dowelled for stacking

• sugarpaste
• CMC
• Rolkem gold lustre dust
• pearl lustre dust
• vodka to mix
• Sugarflair peach paste colour
• royal icing

• cake dowels
• wooden skewers
• Fabricake carousel kit
• 40cm (16in) cake drum
• craft knife
• PME medium size carnation cutter
• ball tool
• sponge mat
• The Old Piping Bag wreath mould
• The Old Piping Bag carousel horse mould
• various other moulds of your choice
• JEM strip cutter No.1
• rolling strip cutter
• rotary type extruder gun
• small paintbrush, large soft brush
• piping bag and nozzle No.1

Method:

1. Begin by covering your cake drum and the carousel polystyrene kit with sugarpaste and set aside to dry.
2. Cover all ganached cakes with sugarpaste, aiming for sharp edges. I use the upside down method to cover cakes with sugarpaste. Leave overnight before decorating.
3. Dowel and stack the cakes.
4. Using the carousel mould and sugarpaste with CMC added, make three horses, then set aside to dry. If you find it difficult to remove the horses from the mould, place the mould in the freezer for 10 minutes and the horse will pop out easily.
5. Once the horses are dry, decorate with a saddle and bridle using the JEM strip cutter and sugarpaste.
6. Using the rotary extruder gun, cover three wooden skewers with long lengths of sugarpaste rope. Wrap around the skewers in threes.
7. Mix gold lustre dust with vodka and paint the accessories on the horse. Mix gold withpearl lustre to obtain a paler shade of gold for the mane and tail.
8. Fix the horses to the covered skewers using royal icing and leave to dry.
9. Next, paint the bottom tier with a gold lustre finish. Paint on with a paintbrush and buff off with a large soft brush.
10. Add a tiny amount of peach gel to sugarpaste and mix in well. Roll out the sugarpaste fairly thin. Using a medium sized PME carnation cutter, cut out lots and lots of petals. Place on a foam mate and soften the edges using a ball tool.
11. Fold each petal in half, then into quarters. Pinch the base and then add to your 20cm (8in) tier. Start at the bottom of the tier and work around and up until the whole tier is covered in ruffles except for the top – it is time consuming, but the effect is so pretty.
12. For the 15cm (6in) tier you need to cover it in strips of peach, ivory and pale gold. Cut strips of peach and ivory using your roller cutter to 2.5cm (1in) wide and ivory strips that are 2cm (¾in) wide. Measure the height of your tier and cut strips to the desired height. Leave to dry slightly before adhering to the cake as the strips are less likely to lose their shape. Ensure you keep the strips straight by placing a straight edge against them. Paint the thinner strips with pale gold lustre.
13. Continue by covering the top of the ruffled tier with more ruffles.
14. Using the wreath mould, make a wreath and add to the tier with strips on. Paint any elements of the mould you'd like to with differing shades of gold lustre.
15. Finish the edges of the strips tier by adding a pretty mould around the top.
16. Paint a design or initials of your choice in the centre of the wreath.
17. Continue to add decoration using various moulds of your choice, painted gold.
18. Insert the horses into the top tier using the skewers. Carefully line up the top of the carousel and place down on the skewers.
19. Add decoration to the top of the carousel with more moulds, ruffles and piping details of royal icing.