Glitz & glam bauble fancies

Method

• step 1

  Using a ruler as a guide, cut your cake into 4 x 4cm squares with a small serrated knife, so you end up with 16 mini cakes. Divide your marzipan into 16 equal pieces.

• step 2

  Lightly dust your work surface with a little icing sugar and roll out each chunk of marzipan to a thin circle. Brush the top and sides of a square of cake with some jam, then turn upside down to stick in the middle of the marzipan. Flip upright, smooth the marzipan down the sides of the cake so it sticks, then trim any excess from the bottom. Repeat to cover all your mini cakes.

• step 3

  Tip the icing sugar into a big mixing bowl and stir in just enough dribbles of water to make a thick, but pourable, icing. Divide the icing into as many bowls as you want different colours, and add some food colouring to each.

• step 4

  Sit your cakes on a wire rack sat in a tray, or on kitchen paper. Spoon some icing over each cake until the top and sides are covered – you can repeat until all the icing is used up. Leave to set for 4 hrs, or overnight is best.

• step 5

  Divide your ready-to-roll icing into 16 equal balls. Put a splash of water in a shallow saucer, and your sprinkles into others. One by one, roll each icing ball in the water to dampen, then roll immediately into sprinkles to coat (if you’ve got children helping and the balls are getting too wet, get them to roll the balls on damp pieces of kitchen paper instead). Pierce each ball with a cocktail stick, then leave to set alongside the cakes.

• step 6

  To finish, cut card into little flags and secure to the sticks with some tape. Add a name, number or Christmas message to each and let the festivities begin!