Victoria Sponge and Sugarpaste: 

After my failure to impress with the sponge for Popsy’s 5th Birthday Cake and following various attempts at different sponge recipes I finally reverted back to my faithful Victoria Sponge recipe  for this cake to celebrate the impending arrival of my niece.

I also added a buttercream filling to the raspberry jam in the middle which was also used to coat the cake before applying the fondant icing.

This time I also took a tip from my friend Claire that a cake is easier to ice when frozen.  So I made the sponge the night before and stuck it in the freezer overnight.  I took the cake out the freezer the day before the party and applied the sugarpaste onto the frozen cake – & lo and behold no filling bulge out of the side or any top tier slide as I experienced when decorating my daughters cake the month before.  I also managed to get the icing much thinner this time and found that sticking half-flowers around the bottom of the cake hides a multitude of sins without the use of a ribbon, so win win all round 🙂