Soldier and castle birthday cake recipe

Our sister magazine Woman's Weekly have created this incredible castle made of two cakes with sugarpaste soldiers on guard. It's perfect for a boys' birthday party and there's lots to go round.

Why not take a look at our helpful, easy guide on how to make royal icing for all the tips and tricks to help make your cake the perfect showstopper!

Ingredients

• Ingredients 18cm(7in) and 23cm(9in) round cakes, on 28cm(11in) round cake board, covered in marzipan. You can see how to do this in our video or our gallery.
• 1.5kg(3lb) grey sugarpaste
• 150g(5oz) red sugarpaste
• 150g(5oz) black sugarpaste
• 90g(3oz) fleshcoloured sugarpaste
• Half a 500g packet Royal Icing Sugar, made up
• Paste food colourings in yellow, black and brown

Utensils:

• Veining tool or cocktail stick
• Small bakingparchment piping bags
• Writing piping tube (No 2)
• Ruler for measuring soldier's height
• Model cannons for top we made ours from grey card
• Small flag on a stick

Method

1. Cover the larger cake with grey sugarpaste as shown in our video or our gallery. While the sugarpaste is still soft, mark the bricks using the veining tool or cocktail stick. Place the smaller cake on a spare board and cover with grey sugarpaste cutting the excess paste away around the base of the cake. Mark on the bricks as for the larger cake. Place a small amount of royal icing on to the centre of the larger cake and then slide the smaller cake on top. Roll out the trimmings of the grey sugarpaste to a thickness of about 5mm(1/4in) and cut out the turrets. Mark the bricks on the turrets as for for the cakes. Colour a little royal icing to a pale grey colour and fill a piping bag fitted with the writing tube. Pipe a little icing along the bottom side of each turret and stick in place around the top of the cake.
2. Make the soldiers about 85mm tall. Cut out the pieces of thinly rolled sugarpaste, using the colours shown in the main photograph. Use a knife to mark the line between the legs and cut into the rectangle of the body to form triangular arms as in the picture. Brush the back of each piece with a little water and stick around the sides of the cake.
3. Using flesh coloured sugarpaste, mould hands for each of the soldiers and stick in place with a little water. Pipe black royal icing for the shoes and belts, yellow for chin straps, buttons and buckles and brown for the guns. Use brown food colouring diluted with water to paint on the faces. Place cannons and a flag on top of the cake.