to the beach!

This mini cake was inspired by 'my cake decorating' magazine and it's perfect to get you in the holiday mood!

What you need before you start?

• your ready made cake / muffin(s), ideally taller than it is wide
• red and blue ready to roll out icing
• digestive biscuits
• edible glue & clean paintbrush
• butter icing
• white chocolate star fish and shells (optional)

Firstly apply crumb coat to the cake, this will keep in the moisture and keep all the pesky little crumbs staying in place (and not sticking to your icing!)

Allow a few hours for the crumb coat to set, ideally this needs to be done in the fridge. I usually do this the night before I plan on decorating my cake.

Using your red icing, separate it into 2 balls. One large and one small. Roll the large ball into a rectangle big enough to wrap around the sides of your cake.to give the cake a neat seam along the back, use a sharp knife to cut along when the icing will meet at the back.

Using the small ball of red icing roll out a long ribbon of icing. This will provide the rim you usually see on buckets. Using a sharp knife, cut the edges so that the rim looks tidy. Use edible glue to attach this to your cake.

Crush the digestives until fine crumbs. Apply a thick layer of butter icing to the top of the bucket and dust with the crumbs. This will create sand.

Roll a small ball of blue icing in the palm of your and using your finger tips until it becomes a long 'worm' shape. Attach this to either side of the bucket with edible glue to create your handle.

Place the starfish and shells on top of your cake

If you have more time, or want to personalize the cake for a family member or friend, you can change the colour of the bucket, add a cartoon character... The possibilities are endless!

If you don't like digestive biscuits, why not try rich tea or shortbread?

Love,

Melissa 
xx

P.s. if you want to check out the magazine mentioned go to... http://www.mycakedecorating.co.uk/