MOUSE HOUSE
A sweet little pumpkin-shaped mouse house that is quick and easy to make.
BOWL-SHAPED CAKES
BAKING TIME - 1¼ HOURS
INGREDIENTS
440 g (14oz/3½ cups) self-raising flour
220 g (7 oz/1¾ cups) plain all-purpose flour
440 g (14 oz/1¾ cups) butter/soft margarine
440 g (14 oz/1¾ cups) caster/superfine sugar
7 eggs
Divide mixture equally between 2 x 2 litre (4 pint/10 cup) ovenproof bowls .
MOUSE HOUSE
MATERIALS
2 x 2 litre (4 pint/10 cup) bowl-shaped cakes
30 cm (12in) round cake board
1.5kg (3lb) sugarpaste/rolled fondant
mauve, orange, black, golden brown & green food colouring pastes
icing/confectioners' sugar In a sugar shaker
345 g (11oz/1⅓ cups) buttercream
Sugar glue
EQUIPMENT
large rolling pin
Sharp knife
Cake smoother
Small circle cutter
1. Colour 375g (12oz) of sugarpaste mauve. Using Icing sugar to prevent sticking, roll out and cover the
cake board, trimming excess from around the edge. Put aside to dry. Trim the crust from each cake and
slice the tops flat. Put the two cakes together to form a ball.
2. Trim the pumpkin shape, cutting 2cm (¾ in) deep into the cake from top to bottom to mark eight sections.
Trim to create eight grooves spaced evenly around the cake. Sandwich the cakes together with buttercream,
then spread a thin layer over the surface.
3. Colour, then roll out 1kg (2lb) of orange sugarpaste and cover the cake, smoothing around the ball shape and
into the grooves. Stretch out the pleats around the base and tuck the sugarpaste underneath, or cut away the
pleats and smooth the joins closed.
4. Position the cake on the cake board, then use a cake smoother to smooth the surface. Cut out small circles
for the windows and remove the sugarpaste. Colour 15g (½ oz) of sugarpaste black, thinly roll out and cut
circles to slot in the openings.
5. Colour 45g (1½ oz) of sugarpaste golden brown to make the mice. Using 15g (½ oz), model a teardrop-shaped
head, turning up the point slightly for the muzzle. Indent the eye sockets using your finger, then stick at a
window with sugar glue, holding for a moment until secure. Make another mouse head and mark an open
mouth with a knife.
6. Model brown, flattened teardrop-shaped ears. Knead orange and golden brown together to make tiny
teardrop shapes for the centre of each ear and make small oval-shaped noses. Roll black eyes. Stick in position.
Create brown teardrop-shaped paws, flatten slightly, then make three small cuts at the rounded end. Roll
tapering shapes for the tails.
7. Colour the remaining sugarpaste green. Roll tapering sausage shapes for the stalks, including a thick stalk for
the top of the pumpkin and stick in place. Make flattened leaf shapes, pressing down with your finger to create
the leaf edges, then use a knife to mark the centre vein. Model a small sausage of mauve sugarpaste for t he
base of the chimney and the cone-shaped top, then slot into a hole in the side of the pumpkin house.
50 Easy Party Cakes by Debbie Brown (Murdoch Books, £9.99). Photography copyright Murdoch Books.