Seriously Cool Fab Ice Lolly Cake Tutorial
Hello! Oh, my freaking word how good has this weather been??? I had to buy sunscreen. In Scotland!! I’m so happy about this I could actually burst! Like I’m sure some of you are thinking Amanda, it’s almost June, sunshine is expected and to you, I say come to Scotland and see for yourself. Last June I spent the entire month in the rain jacket and jeans. Grey and rainy for the entire thing, the whole country was Vit D deficient but not anymore. Oh no, for 2 weeks now the sun has been shining, the taps have been aff and the beer gardens hoaching. Halle-freakin-lujah the sun has returned!
And with the sun on my back, I finally finished the first week of Couch To 5K which is a week behind schedule but I did have that spring chest infection (wtf?!) so I’m still taking it as a win. And it felt so good! Last night I finished my last little run burst and yes, I had a stitch but my legs and chest weren’t on fire which is an absolute first. I love when you get to see your progress, I’m so easily encouraged, any little morsel and I’m like YAAAAAS for the whole day.
So, with the happy happy weather what else could I make than this gorgeous giant Fab lolly when all I wanna do is sit out the back eating them all day. Oh, what a life that would be! And not only is it a wee treat to eat it was so easy to make! Like an absolute doddle, I wanna find a way to make all my cakes that easy in future. In fact, maybe I should do a series of these dotted throughout Summer, what d’you think? I’d love to do a Twister but that already seems like a tricky wee bugger. Maybe a Rocket? Yes? No? Hit me up with your thoughts cos I might get carried away otherwise!
Ingredients
3 batches of Delia’s madeira cake
250g butter
100g soft cheese
500g icing sugar
150g dark chocolate
150ml of double cream
250g red fondant
500g white fondant
½ tsp tylose powder (optional)
Food colouring
3 barbecue skewers
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/160 Fan and line 3 sheet pans (11x8 inches) with parchment paper. Split the cake batter between the 3 pans and bake for 15-20 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
2. For the lolly stick there’s two options; you can make it the night before and leave it somewhere cool to dry overnight or like me you can make it while the cakes are baking and dry it out in the oven.
3. To start, take 100g of white fondant and colour it to match a lolly stick then knead in ½ tsp of tylose powder (this makes it dry a little faster and sturdier but if you don’t have it, don’t worry as long you completely dry the fondant out it should be fine). Pinch a small piece of fondant roughly the size of a walnut and colour it darker brown.
4. Roll both pieces of fondant into little sausage shapes about 6 inches long and lay them side by side. Now roll them together a little.
5. When it’s doubled in length, fold the sausage into a tight ‘S’ shape and gently roll again. It’s crucial to be gentle so that the dark brown doesn’t mix into the light and disappear but instead creates little lines of dark throughout the light. Repeat until the dark brown fondant shows multiple lines all the way through the light.
6. Place the fondant on a piece of parchment paper and shape it back into a tight ‘S’. With a rolling pin, roll it out flat to ½ cm thick. Be careful to roll only in the same direction as the lines are going, otherwise it marble instead of making wood grain. Fold the fondant back on itself and roll again this time to ¾ cm thick. The double roll should remove any lines left from the ‘S’ and leave behind a gorgeous dark brown grain throughout.
7. Using a sharp knife cut to shape for the bottom of the lolly stick. You can make a template beforehand with some cardboard but I just eye-balled it and it worked out great. When you’re happy with the shape, insert the 3 barbecue sticks carefully, making sure they don’t poke out the end.
8. When the cakes are done, switch the oven off and leave the door open for a few minutes until inside is warm but not hot then pop the lolly stick inside with the door closed. Leave it there for 30-60 minutes then transfer to a dry place (away from any kettles). This should dry it out pretty fast but make sure no one comes in and puts the oven back on otherwise all your hard work will melt away.
9. In a large bowl, mix together 250g butter (room temperature), 100g of soft cheese and 500g of icing sugar. At this point, feel free to add any flavour you might want, such as vanilla, orange, etc.
10. When the cakes are cool, stack them one on top of the other without any frosting and cut out a small piece from one corner to look like a bite. Using the knife, slightly round out the other corners and edges so they aren’t so sharp then de-stack (I know that’s not a word, but I can’t think of any other way to say it, sorry!) the cakes, remembering which one should be on top.
11. Attach the bottom layer of cake to your board with a little smear of frosting then stack the cakes back up, this time with a layer of frosting in between each sponge. Apply a thin layer of frosting all over to catch the crumbs and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
12. While the cake is cooling, take 3 pieces of white fondant roughly the size of a large grape each and colour them so you have one pink, one yellow and one white. One at a time, roll them out into long thin ropes then cut the ropes into pieces about 1-1 ½ cm long. Once cut, roll the edges gently between your palm and forefinger to round them out. Place them on a piece of parchment to dry, these are gonna be our giant sprinkles.
13. When the cake has chilled, add another layer of frosting all over a little thicker this time. Smooth it out with a warm palette knife and return to the fridge for 30 minutes.
14. Over a pan of boiling water, heat 150g of dark chocolate and 150ml of double cream. Mixing constantly until the chocolate has completely melted to make a ganache then set aside to cool.
15. Knead the remaining white and red fondant for about 10 mins each, this will make it easier to handle and roll.
16. Remove the cake from the fridge and lightly score with a knife 3 equal sections as a guide to where each colour should be.
17. Roll out the red fondant so it’s big enough to cover the bottom section of cake. I rolled mine on a piece of cling-film, so it would be easier to peel off the surface but be careful that the cling film side faces down on the cake because it sometimes leaves little vein marks.
18. Before moving to the cake, cut a straight line across one of the long edges of fondant so that you can line it up with the guideline on the cake. Mist the bottom section of cake with water that has been boiled then cooled and cover with the red fondant, matching the straight line of fondant to the guideline you marked earlier.
19. Work the fondant over the corners first and then smooth it out all over. When it’s smoothly in place, trim off the excess with a knife.
20. Now roll out the white fondant large enough to cover the middle section. Again, trim a straight line along one of the long edges. Mist the cake with water again, careful to avoid the red fondant and this time, line up the straight edge of the white fondant with the straight edge of the red fondant. Smooth it down and trim off the excess, including along the top to create a clean line along the top of the white section.
21. Using the leftover scraps of fondant, cover the little part at the top of cake where there’s a ‘bite’ missing with white fondant and then trim the excess. Next roll out a little piece of red and trim it to a small oblong shape. You can check the size by wrapping it in cling film and holding it against the cake. Keep trimming until it’s right and then attach it to the white with a little water.
22. Using a whisk, whip up the cooled ganache until it reaches the same consistency as Nutella at room temperature. With a small palette knife, spread this all over the top section careful to avoid the missing ‘bite’. Smooth it over with a warmed palette knife.
23. While the ganache is still fresh, dot the extra-large sprinkles we made earlier all over the ganache until it looks just like the real deal.
24. Lastly, gently push the lolly stick into the bottom with the barbecue skewers, careful not to break it. Then, if you’re anything like me gently weep when you cut into her cos she’s just too pretty to eat!
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