Festive S’mores Cake by Rob Baker-Gall

Begin by torting all of the cakes into 1” layers. For the square cakes, we are simply going to place each 1” layer on a cake card and cover in milk chocolate ganache. For the ‘marshmallow’ cake, we are going to carve it before filling, as otherwise this can be quite messy.

Stack the four layers of the chocolate cake and, using the 6” cake card as a guide, round off the corners.

Invert the pile of cakes and trim diagonally through one layer, before rounding off the corners once more.

Place the new base layer on to your 6” cake card and spread with a thin layer of ganache, before piping a thicker dam around the edge. Fill the inside of the dam with a generous layer of Marshmallow Fluff Spread (this can be microwaved on your microwaves defrost setting for 10-15 seconds to make it easier to spread) and top with a layer of crushed biscuits.

Repeat step 6 until all the layers of cake have been stacked.

Crumb coat the cake with milk chocolate ganache and place in the fridge to chill for around 20-30 minutes, before applying a second layer of ganache.

While the main cake is chilling, roll out 500g of Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing in Teddy Bear Brown and use it to cover one of your 7” squares, trimming off any excess.

Use modelling tools to create the recognisable Graham Cracker features: score a seam down the centre of the ‘biscuit’ and poke in the ‘steam holes’ as per the image.

Use a clean, new scrubbing brush to impress a crumbly texture around the edges of the ‘biscuit’. Repeat steps 9-11 for the second 7” square cake.

Roll out 1.5kg of Marshmallow Flavour Renshaw Extra Ready to Roll Icing. Cover the main cake, smoothing the top before working your way down the sides of the cake. Remove the excess icing, being careful to work it under the curved edge of the cake. An edge scraper works well for this.

With the remaining Marshmallow Flavour Renshaw Extra Ready to Roll Icing, roll this out and cover your 12” cake board, before using the scrubbing brush to impress more texture (make sure you have brushed off any Renshaw Ready to Roll Icing in Teddy Bear Brown that may be caught in the bristles).

When you are read to assemble your cake, spread a small amount of Renshaw Royal Icing to the rear of the covered board. Place your least favourite ‘biscuit’ layer on to the board towards the back.

Take 500g of Renshaw Chocolate Flavour Ready to Roll Icing and roll it out slightly, before hand-shaping it to pull out various drip shapes.

Place your Renshaw Chocolate Flavour Ready to Roll Icing on to the ‘biscuit’ cake and continue to manipulate the drips until you are happy with the final effect.

Insert four food-safe dowels into the ‘biscuit’ cake before applying a little Renshaw Royal Icing to the tops of these.

Carefully place the ‘marshmallow’ cake onto the ‘biscuit’, ensuring that the tallest side is at the front.

Dowel the ‘marshmallow’ cake with the remaining four dowels, before applying a little more Renshaw Royal Icing to the tops and adding the second ‘biscuit’ cake.

Fill your airbrush with Rainbow Dust Colour Flo Liquid Food Colour in Brown and use this to gently apply a layer of colour to the edge of the ‘biscuits’, along the centre seam and to the ‘steam holes’. You can use a folded square of kitchen roll in your other hand to mask the parts of the cake that you don’t want to colour. To create the charred effect on the ‘marshmallow’, build up several layers of colour, concentrating these where the ‘marshmallow’ meets the ‘biscuits’. You can also add a little Rainbow Dust Colour Flo Liquid Food Colour in Black if you want to make the colour even darker.

Set the airbrushed cake aside to dry and grab your Renshaw Flower and Modelling Pastes – it’s sprinkles time! Roll out the Renshaw Flower and Modelling Pastes into thin sausages and use a knife to cut these into 5mm lengths. Set these aside to dry and roll out a little more Renshaw Flower and Modelling Paste in White. Use a small plunger cutter to cut a selection of snowflakes to add to your sprinkle selection. You can use your plunger cutters to cut your eye highlights now too.

Roll out a small amount of Renshaw Extra Ready to Roll Icing in Black. Use your circle cutter to cut two eyes, before hand-cutting a small mouth shape with your craft knife.

Time for the finishing touches! When attaching additional embellishments to an airbrushed cake, I prefer not to use a brush with water or edible glue as this can smear the paint. Instead, I prefer to steam the entire cake and use this to adhere the additional elements.

Stick the eyes, mouth and highlights to the centre of the ‘marshmallow’.

Add your sprinkles to the ‘chocolate’ and all over the board. Finish by adding an appropriately festive ribbon to the cake board and you are done!