A lovely versatile cake in the shape of a bed. Use as a topper for a larger cake, or as a small cake in it's own right! It can be cutied-up with a sleeping baby, made in hues of pinks or blues as a Christening cake, or even done in festive greens and reds for a 'Night Before Christmas' theme. Try adding a little stocking on the end of the bed, a festive Santa hat, some Christmas parcels and it will look a treat!
You will need:
An oblong cake approx 8x11x3.5cm
Sugarpaste
Petal Paste
Edible glue
Head Board Cutter (Patchwork)
Sleeping baby for the bed - or teddy, elf etc
Food colourings of your choice
Lace cutters or other accessories of your choice
Making the Bead Head and Foot Board
You really will need petal paste for the bed heads, they need to dry rigid and be able to stand up without drooping.
1. Roll out the Petal Paste in a colour of your choice, to about 1/4" thick. Using the head board cutter, press firmly around the edges, but only enough to emboss the inner lines. Take care with the bed knobs, if you press too deeply around these, they tend to cut right the way through and separate!
2. Remove the cutter and using a sharp scalpel, cut the outer lines cleanly. Allow the paste to crust slightly before cutting away the excess paste between the uprights in the bed head.
3. Roll out another piece of petal paste and repeat the process, EXCEPT this time extend the length of the base about another 1/2" before cutting across the base. The bead head is usually slightly higher than the foot board in beds. Leave both pieces to dry overnight.
4. Whilst the bead head and foot board are drying, bake cool and cut out a piece of sponge cake to approx 8x11x3.5cm.
5. Cover the bed base cake with sugar paste coloured to your needs - the covering will effectively be the 'sheet'.
6. Colour a piece of petal paste to the same shade as the 'sheet', this will be the frill.
7. Measure the height and length of bed base, and roll out the coloured petal paste very thinly so that you can cut an oblong a tiny bit shorter that the height, and approx double the length of the base.
8. Apply some edible glue along the top edge of the 'frill' to hold it in place on the sheet.
9. Start at one end of the bed base, and attach the frill, folding it as you go, to give a gathered appearance. Only do this down the two long sides, leave the shorter sided (top and bottom) free from any frill, otherwise the bed head and foot board won't sit flush against the body of the bed. Leave to dry
Making The Pillow
Use Petal Paste for the pillow slip, but use a lozenge of sugar paste for the pillow. This way you can indent the sleeping baby, teddy etc into the pillow to give a more realistic appearance.
1. Measure the width of the bed and decide how wide you want to make the pillow. Roll out a piece of petal paste thinly and cut out an oblong approx the width of the bed and a little over twice the length you have decided the pillow width should be. Make a lozenge the size you want the pillow, slightly shorter that the width of the bed. Place the lozenge on the top edge of the petal paste pillow slip, apply a little edible glue around all four sides of the slip, fold over the lozenge and seal the edges. a nice finishing touch is to cut some lace and attach to just the sides of the pillow.
2. Before the pillow has dried, press the head of the sleeping baby, or teddy etc, into the pillow so that it looks more realistic. Take the sleeping baby back off the pillow and leave it to dry.
Making The Top Sheet And Quilt
1. Place the baby etc back in the bed along with the pillow, and measure from the floor one side, right over the baby and down to the floor the other side. Measure from where you want the top of the quilt to rest, to the bottom of the bed, but don't allow for a little overhang at the bottom, or the foot board won't sit flush with the bed.
2. Use 50% petal paste, kneaded with 50% sugarpaste for the quilt. Sugarpaste alone may crack and rip with the weight, petal paste alone will dry so hard you'll take someone's eye out when you try to cut it. Sugar dough is probably ideal for the quilt if you have any.
3. Colour the half and half mixture to the shade of your choice. Roll out to about 1/2cm deep, then let your imagination run riot. You can use an impression mat to create texture, a quilting tool to create a quilted effect, small cutters to emboss a pattern - anything you like.
4. Once you have created the effect you want, cut the sugarpaste to size and leave to one side - flat.
5. Before the quilt has time to crust, create the sheet if you are having one. Just roll out a piece of petal paste thinly to the same width as the quilt, but only deep enough to give you the 'turned over' piece and an extra 1".
6. Score a line with the quilting tool where you want the fold for the 'turn over' to be. Place the quilt on the petal paste sheet up to the line, fold over the top of the sheet and then place both the sheet and the quilt over the sleeping baby in the bed. Press in gently around the baby, and make sure it is even both sides of the bed.
Attaching The Bed Head And Foot Board
1. Spread some royal icing quite liberally on top of the bed, this will allow for any uneveness in the cake and let the bead head sit flush against the bed.
2. Repeat the process at the bottom of the bed, and attach the foot board. Check the bed sideways, to make sure both bead head and foot board are at a good 90% angle and everything is straight.
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