In 2006, we were very lucky to get tickets to go to some of the World Cup matches in Germany – I’m not a huge football fan, but I must admit that going to matches is far more exciting than watching it on TV! As the 2010 games were in South Africa (and going there was never going to be a possibility) I decided to make a World Cup cake instead – here it is:

Apologies for the stuff in the background – this photo is from my pre-blogging days! Anyway, this year Tom asked if I would make another one. The conversation went a bit like this:

Tom: “Are you making a World Cup cake this year?”
Me: “Yeah, ok!”
Tom: ” How are you going to decorate it?”
Me: “A bit like the last one.”
Tom: “Can we put a flag on it?”
Me: “No.”
Tom: “I want to make one with a flag on.”
Me: “Ok – I’ll make one and you make a flag one!”
Tom: “Let’s do it! A World Cup Cake Off!”

I’m actually not that competitive, but had to admit that it sounded like fun! So I agreed, and this weekend we constructed our cakes. I have to admit that I’ve eaten a little too much ready to roll icing this weekend…so will be on mainly savoury food this week haha!

I can’t give too much away about the flavour of the cakes (apparently it’s up to our work colleagues to decide which is the best) but here are a few photos from the making process. We made our cakes in a brownie pan, because it’s a perfect pitch shape (although we did have to cut them a bit to be able to get them into the boxes that we’re taking them to work in). We’ve placed the cakes on the lids for easy decorating and transportation!

Once you have stacked your cakes, cover them with green ready to roll icing, and then use some white water icing in a piping bag to mark out the pitch.

You might find that you can’t get all the lines on, but that’s ok. It seems that these teams are only playing 2-a-side too, because they are quite big and don’t all fit on the cake!

If you have any spare icing, you could make bunting too!

The flag cake is made from one layer on the bottom (covered in green icing) and then the diamond and circle are cut out from the other layer. The pitch is marked out first:

Then the layers can be stacked:

Then the finishing touches are added:

Ta-dah! So we’ll be taking these to work tomorrow on the bus – fingers crossed they make it in one piece! Hopefully it will make people feel better now that England are out…I’m cheering on Ivory Coast as they’re my team in the sweepstake!

We’d love to hear what you think of our cakes – feel free to leave a comment below!

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We’ve had these Pac Man cookie cutters since last Christmas and have been meaning to make them ever since then! This week there was a good reason to do it – our friend Kimberley had an 80s themed roller disco for her birthday, so this was perfect. They are really easy to make but the icing does take a bit of time because you have to let the layers dry. But I’m really pleased with the result!

Ingredients

100g/3½oz unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
100g/3½oz caster sugar
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
275g/10oz plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
To decorate
400g/14oz icing sugar (this is probably slightly too much, but this is what the original recipe says!)
3-4 tbsp water
2-3 drops food colourings

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, a little at a time, until well combined.

3. Stir in the flour until the mixture comes together as a dough. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 1cm/½in.

4.Using biscuit cutters, cut biscuits out of the dough and carefully place onto the baking tray.

5. Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to harden for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

6. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir in enough water to create a smooth mixture. Stir in the food colouring. Carefully spread the icing onto the biscuits using a knife and set aside until the icing hardens.

7. For the pac man biscuits, you’ll need to let the icing dry and then ice the eyes later. It takes a bit more time to do this, but it is worth it!

Enjoy!

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