Spotty-dotty cake

1.Preheat oven to 130°C (110°C fan forced). Grease and flour cake pan.

2.Make cake according to directions on packet. Spread enough mixture into pan to fill to three-quarters. (Use any leftover mixture to make cupcakes for another occasion). Bake cake about 1 hour. Stand cake in pan 5 minutes, turn, top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.

3.Level top of cake, place cake, top- side down, on board, secure with a little jam. Brush jam all over cake.

4.Knead ready-made icing on surface dusted with icing sugar until icing loses its stickiness. Tint icing yellow. Roll icing into a square, large enough to cover cake. Using rolling pin, lift icing onto cake, gently smooth icing over cake with hands. Trim around base of cake neatly. Brush a 5mm (¼-inch) border of jam around base of cake.

5.To make ribbon, tint scraps of icing purple, roll into strip on sugared surface long enough to wrap around cake. Using sharp knife, cut into strip about 2cm (¾-inch) wide; position around cake. Make a small bow with scraps of the strip, position on a corner of the cake.

6.To make butter cream. Beat the butter (and any flavouring if using) in a small bowl with an electric beater until the butter is as white as possible. (This will result in a whiter buttercream which will give you better results if colouring it). Gradually beat in half of the sifted icing sugar, then the milk, then the remaining sifted icing sugar.Beat until the butter cream is smooth and spreadable. Keep scraping down the side of the bowl during beating.

7.Fill piping bag with butter cream, pipe large dots on surface of cake.