My brother is an avid rock climber and is taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in November, raising money for Parkinson’s UK (well done you!) so when I saw a r"ock climbing cake on Pinterest":http://pinterest.com/pin/246923992041826982/t, I knew that’s what he had to have.

However, I had a bust up with the icing and ended up throwing the whole thing away! I rolled it out about seven times and every time I tried to lift it, it would crack. I put it on top of the cake at one point and the sides just collapsed leaving a circle on top of the cake so I gave up, swore a little bit and then took a deep breath!

I had to rescue the cake by adding an extra layer of ganache and leaving it pretty rustic looking. I also think the climber was a touch too large for the size of the cake. It was a 6 inch four layer chocolate sponge which ended up 7 1/2 inches high.

As ever, I welcome feedback but please don’t be too harsh – I am still learning and this is only my fifth ever cake!