Full question
My children love your Birthday Custard sponge cake recipe, particularly due to the delicious chocolate icing. However they also like to specify how their birthday cakes are decorated! Would I be able to use (flat) fondant decorations on top of the chocolate icing or would they not work/stay put?
Our answer
Nigella's Birthday Custard Sponge (from FEAST) is a perennial favourite layer cake with a vanilla buttercream filling and a chocolate glaze icing/frosting. The glaze is quite liquid when first made, so that it drips down the sides of the cake. It will set on top but remain soft underneath.
If you are using flat fondant decorations then they should stay on top of the cake as long as they are close to the centre and are not too big or heavy. If they are on the edge of the cake there is a risk that they will slip off. If you are using standing fondant figures then you may be able to use a cocktail stick (toothpick) or cut-down wooden skewer to help to anchor the figure by inserting one end into the fondant figure and then sticking the other end (with the figure on top) into the cake. Put any decorations on before the icing has dried on top, otherwise you may wrinkle the surface of the icing as you press down.
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