I had it in my mind to try a Faberge-style cake one day. My OH’s mother loves Limoges ceramics, and treasures some really lovely pieces on her mantlepiece, so I thought she would be the ideal candidate to try the Faberge style out on :)

The base cake is her favourite – fruit cake. The dried fruit are soaked in Hogs Back Brewery’s (a microbrewery from Tongham in Surrey, UK) OTT – I find soaking the fruit in beer really plumps up the fruit quickly and well. The excess liquid goes straight in with the cake. Then I feed the cake liberally for a week or more with cognac.

I did originally try carving layers of fruit cake (sandwiched with marzipan) for the egg, but found I didn’t have enough time, before her birthday, to wait for this to set properly before marzipanning and covering with sugarpaste. So RKT it was. It turned out really dense and smooth – perfect for shaping. This is the recipe I used: http://www.jensjustdesserts.co.uk/2012/10/01/just-in-time-for-halloween-rice-krispie-treat-rkt-skulls/

She really loved all the piping, and I’m hoping the combination of pink and gold was reminiscent for her, in some way, of her pretty Limoges pieces.