Rudolph cake recipe

Here’s a simple Rudolph cake design that will impress kids and adults alike come Christmas time.

Use a classic Christmas cake recipe to make the base, or cheat and use a ready-made version for this cake. This Rudolph cake is great for beginners, though can be made more complex by adding a Christmas tree or some festive stars. To stop the sugarpaste sticking to the counter, sprinkle a light dusting of icing sugar to your rolling pin and work surface. Instead of Smarties, you could use half a shiny glace cherry for Rudolph's famous red nose. 

Ingredients

• 3tbsp apricot jam
• 675g shop-bought marzipan
• 675g shop-bought sugarpaste or fondant
• 100g teddy-bear brown sugarpaste
• Chocolate brown edible ink pen
• 1 red Smartie
• 2 small brown candy-covered chocolate sweets
• Reindeer cookie cutters

Method

1. Bake your chosen Christmas cake. Once ready to decorate, cover the cake with apricot jam and then carefully roll out the marzipan, sugarpaste, and cover. Use our how to cover a cake with marzipan guide for expert tips on how to cover a cake.
2. Knead the brown sugarpaste to soften it and roll it out on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut out one large and two smaller reindeer shapes. If there is time, allow them to dry so they’ll be easier to draw the details on; if not, use the edible ink pen, but take care not to press too hard on the sugarpaste or it will indent.
3. Mix some of the brown sugarpaste with water to give a sticky glue. Use a little to stick the red Smartie onto the largest reindeer for Rudolph’s nose and a brown sweet on to each of the smaller reindeer’s noses. Use some of the glue to position the reindeers on the cake. Wrap a ribbon around the cake.

Top tips for making a Rudolph cake

An easy tip to help you get a great shape that actually resembles a reindeer is to first print off a picture of a reindeer and place it underneath some baking parchment paper. Trace the outline of the design onto the paper and then cut that out. You can now use this as a stencil to cut out your fondant reindeer shapes. Alternatively, use a reindeer cookie cutter.

Please note nutritional info is based on using Mary Berry's Christmas cake recipe as the base of the cake serving 15

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