How to Make Otter Biscuits

Use your favourite biscuit recipe and cut out rounds using a 10cm cutter. Bake according to the recipe.

As soon as you take the trays out of the oven, press lightly on the tops of the biscuits with an icing smoother to smooth out any bumps and make the surface as flat as possible.

Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack until completely cold.

Roll out the duck egg blue icing approximately 3mm thick and cut out rounds with the same cutter.

Attach the icing disc to the biscuit with edible glue and smooth it flat with the icing smoother.

Print out the otter template and use this as a size guide to build up your otter with brown roll out icing. All pieces are shaped in the palm of your hand using your fingers.

Start with the teardrop shape for the body and the large oval for the head. Cut off the tip of the teardrop body where it joins with the head.

Use a small rolling pin to make a flat teardrop shape from Teddy Bear brown icing and attach this to the chest.

Roll a small ball and cut in half to make the 2 ears. Attach these to either side of the head with a little water or edible glue. Use a small ball tool to make indentations in each ear – and help the ear to fix in place on the head.

Roll a small pointy tail, attach this to the base of the otter and curl it to one side.

For the facial features, take a little black icing. Roll a small oval ball for the nose and two tiny balls for the eyes. Use the ball tool to make indentations for the eyes and fix these in place with water/edible glue along with the nose.

Draw on the otter's whiskers with black edible pen.

Use a rolling pin to roll out pink or red icing and a heart plunger cutter to cut out the heart.

Attach the heart to the otter's chest and position the otter's arms around this. Fix the feet into position.

Take your icing covered biscuit and brush a little edible glue in the centre where the otter will be positioned. Transfer the otter to the biscuit and press gently into place.

Take a piping bag fitted with a no.2 icing nozzle and a little Royal icing with a stiff consistency. Pipe ripples around the otter's body to make it look like he is floating on his back in the water.

Finally, add 2 tiny dots of royal icing to the otter's eyes for shiny highlights.