How to Make a Woodland Stag Cake

Cut out the trees, stag and moon first, ideally 48 hours in advance to give them time to dry and harden before using to decorate the cake. It's a good idea to cut extras in case of breakages! 2. Roll out the white modelling paste 4mm thick and use the template to cut out the trees with a sharp craft knife.

Roll out just enough modelling paste to cut out 1 tree at a time as it will dry out very quickly. Keep the rest of it tightly wrapped up in a plastic freezer bag until you are ready to use it.

Cut out the stag from the silver modelling paste, using the template provided.

To make the moon, take 2 circle cutters, one slightly smaller than the other. Use the larger cutter to cut a circle from the silver modelling paste and the smaller one to remove a section from the circle so you have a crescent moon. Leave the trees, stag and moon to dry on a flat surface.

Cover both of the cakes with the navy icing. Cover a 14” round cake board with white icing and position the larger cake in the centre of the board. Dowel the cake and stack the smaller cake on top of the larger one.

Roll the powder blue icing into a long strip. Use a pizza wheel to cut a straight edge along the bottom and a sharp craft knife to cut a wavy edge at the top. Use a little cooled boiled water and a clean brush to wet the bottom edge of the cake. Wrap the icing strip around the cake with the straight edge along the base of the cake. Use a little more water on the brush to secure the wavy edge in place.

Repeat the process with the white icing but make this strip narrower than the blue strip.

Top Tip!…If you find it difficult to make one long strip to go around the cake completely then make two shorter ones and add to the cake one at a time ensuring a neat join.

Affix the moon to the top of the cake with a dot of royal icing. Thinly roll out a little of the silver modelling paste. Use the tip of a writing nozzle to stamp out lots of tiny circles. Stick these all over the navy coloured parts of the cake with water and a fine paintbrush.

Use your hands to roll out lots of different sized 'snowballs' from the white icing and stick these to the sides of the cake. Alternatively, you can pipe these on with the royal icing if you prefer. Use the royal icing to stick the stag to the cake standing beneath the moon.

Carefully fix the trees around the cake using the royal icing, overlapping the branches and alternating different sized trees. To finish, add some large white icing 'snowballs' near the stag's feet and finish the cake board with silver ribbon.