Chock-a-block toy box birthday cake

Serves:

Ingredients

• 2 x 340g packets golden buttercake mix + ingredients to bake the cake
• 1 1/2 quantities Buttercream icing
• 2 x 170g blocks Kit Kat Classic milk chocolate break
• 1 red jube
• 1 cup assorted lollies (jelly snakes, jubes, Jaffas, freckles, Mentos, jelly dinosaurs, jelly babies, licorice allsorts)
• You will also need :1 x 22cm-square cardboard box lid
• 1 x 28cm-square cake board
• small children‰s party toys (such as yo-yos, spiky balls, dinosaurs, Duplo blocks)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Grease a 7cm-deep, 22cm-square cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper.

Prepare cakes, following packet directions. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth top with a spatula. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre of cake comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Meanwhile, make buttercream icing. Using food colouring, tint chocolate brown. Using sharp scissors, cut cardboard lid in half.

Place cake on a flat surface. Level top of cake, if necessary. Using a serrated knife, cut cake in half crossways. Place one cake half on cake board. Spread top with 1/2 cup icing. Sandwich with cake top. Thinly spread top and sides of cake with 1 cup icing. Spread top and sides of cardboard lid with 1/2 cup icing.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Refrigerate cake and lid for 30 minutes or until firm.

Meanwhile, break Kit Kat into pieces. Using a pair of small sharp scissors, trim red jube into a heart shape.

Reserve 1/3 cup icing. Spread remaining icing over top and side of cake. Position heart-shaped jube on the top of the front panel of toy box.

Line edges of the toy box with Kit Kat pieces, trimming to fit, if necessary. Place two Kit Kat pieces vertically on each back corner of toy box (see pic). Starting from the bottom, arrange Kit Kat pieces in 3 rows on back of toy box (this is to help support the lid).

Arrange 3/4 of the lollies and toys on top of toy box. Position lid over lollies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the lid to set in place.

Arrange remaining lollies and toys in and around toy box.

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Serving Suggestions

Note

• To make this into a pirate or treasure chest cake you can replace the tiny toys with gold coins and and gold coloured beads.
• You can also make it into a girls jewellery box and fill it with costume jewellery.
• You could bake this cake and freeze the pieces so they are easy to ice.
• Recipes by Kathy Knudsen & Nadia French.Photography by Andrew Young & Sam McAdam-Cooper Styling & food preparation Nadia French.