Rat cake

Method

1. Put the loaf cake on the centre of your cake board. Use a sharp knife to create your basic rat shape. Keep going until you’re happy, using offcuts to build up areas where needed. Use the image to guide you, but you can be as true to life or as cartoonish as you like.
2. Put the buttercream in a bowl and add your chosen food colouring until you’re happy with the colour. Use a small palette knife to cover the entire cake with a thin layer of buttercream (known as a crumb coat), then put the cake in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.
3. Put the remaining buttercream in a piping bag with the no. 234 piping nozzle fitted. Pipe the buttercream all over the cake. You can experiment with the finish of the fur; press firmer and quicker for a shorter coat, or gently and slowly for a longer coat.
4. Use your hands to shape the pink fondant icing into a tail, 2 ears, a nose and 4 paws. Use a knife to cut individual toes on each paw. Stick all the bits of pink icing onto the cake, piping more buttercream around each piece if it needs to blend in a little more.
5. Roll out 2 little balls of black fondant for the eyes, then 2 tiny balls of white fondant for a highlight in each eye. Brush a little cocoa powder on the ears, nose, paws and tail to give them a little more definition.