If you are looking for something a bit different to celebrate a 1st birthday then this duo of decorated cake and sugar cookies could be the answer! Our easy to follow guide will show you how to create this cake in a just a few easy steps.
Feel free to switch up the design by using different colour sugarpaste and buttercreams depending on your theme and once you have mastered the fine art of stencilling they'll be nothing holding you back from applying this skill to all your other cakes!

For this cake you will need:
8" Round cake (203mm)
10" Round cake board (254mm)
PME Lollipop Sticks (7.9" LS173 & 6.3" LS172)
1kg White Sugarpaste
200g (8oz) Buttercream
JEM Stencils - Train Set (SA19) set of 3
PME Paste Food Colour - Ocean Blue (PC1066)
PME Powder Colour - Canary Yellow PC303, Strawberry Sundae PC312, Spring Meadow PC306 & Sunset Orange PC305
PME Gourmet Sprinkles - Fudge Cubes (SKS314)

Preparation:
For the Sugar Cookies: 200g (7oz) butter and caster sugar creamed together. Add 1 egg and fold in 400g (12oz) plain flour. Leave to rest for 1 hour. Roll out and cut out circles from the cookie dough, arrange on a lined baking tray and bake for 6-10 minutes at 180°C. Insert the lollipop sticks and allow to cool.

Your favourite cake covered in pale blue sugarpaste.

Instructions:
1 - Take the iced cake and using the powder colours prepare the buttercream into four seperate colours. Take one of the stencils and hold firmly in place against the side of the cake. Using a palette knife spread a thin layer of coloured buttercream across the stencil - you can use one colour on make it multicoloured.

2 - Carefully remove the stencil by lifting it off and away from the side of the cake. Repeat the same technique around the cake positioning the designs as evenly around the cake as possible.

3 - Apply a light coating of piping gel or jam to the base of the cake board and sprinkle the fudge pieces on top, saving a small amount for the top of the cake.

4 - Decorate the cookies by cutting out discs of sugar paste and use a thin layer of piping gel to attach them. Repeat the stencil technique used above on the iced cookies and complete the cake by inserting the cookies into the cake and sprinkling extra fudge pieces around the base of each cookie stick.