gold mermaid cake

This stunning mermaid cake is perfect for any sealife themed celebration, with pretty pastel tones and bright gold embellishments!

For this, we used:

• Colour Splash Food Colouring Gel - Violet (0675060)
• Colour Splash Food Colouring Gel - Blue (0675061)
• Colour Splash Food Colouring Gel - Pale Pink (0675131)
• Culpitt Cake Decorating Sugarpaste Icing - Brilliant White - 1kg (0674227)
• House of Cake Metallic Gold Sugarpaste - 100g (87037)
• FMM Mermaid Tail Cutter (86648)
• Purple Cupcakes Mermaid Sprinkle Mix (25111)
• FMM Savoy Nozzle - Star - No.10 (86509)
• Cake Star Cake Decorating Kit - Set of 10 (0684797)
• DecoPac French Pastry Nozzle - No.864 (0610968)
• 21" Disposable Piping Bags - Pink - Pack of 72 (DSB9)
• Purple Cupcakes 6mm Sugar Pearls - Silver (25019)
• Round Light Pink Cake Drum Board - 10"  (06PRWD10)
• PME Nylon Craft Brushes - Set of 5 (800081)
• Cake Star Mermaid Stencil (68010)
• Katy Sue Silicone Sugarcraft Mould - Sea Shells (86812)
• Colour Splash Food Colouring Powder - Pearl - Snowflake (75085)
• Colour Splash Food Colouring Powder - Pearl -  Light Gold (75090)
• Renshaw Vanilla Frosting (0605813)

Step 1:

Weigh out 3x 300g portions of Brilliant white sugar paste. Colour the each portion using Colour Splash: 1x blue, 1x pale pink and 1x violet. 

Step 2:

Next, cut each portion in half, then marble each piece with 200g of brilliant white. Top Tip: to marble, knead the colours gently together but do not fully mix the colours. 

Step 3:

There should now be 6 portions of differing pastel shades. Roll each piece into randomly sized sausages and lay them out all mixed up side by side. Squash them all together then squeeze them back into a sausage shape. 

Step 4:

Roll the sausage further then bend it back on itself. Roll into a sausage again then twist the whole piece as pictured. 

Top Tip: Repeat this step until the desired effect has been achieved. Be careful not to mix the colours fully.

Step 5:

Then, roll out the marbled sugar paste to cover the cake. Take care when covering the cake with the marbled paste and do not over handle the paste to preserve the marbled effect.

Once covered, choose the side with the best-marbled pattern to become the front. 

Step 6:

Mix some buttercream and divide into 3 equal portions. Mix with Colour Splash to create pastel shades: 1x violet, 1x pale pink, 1x blue.

Add the FMM No 10 nozzle to a piping bag and fill with blue buttercream. Repeat with violet & pale pink. 

Step 7:

Begin to pipe random sizes of rosettes and twirls onto the cake as pictured, and repeat this step using pale pink & violet buttercream. 

Step 8:

Switch the nozzle to the Decopac French pastry nozzle and repeat step 7. Fill in any gaps and pipe small rosettes on top of others to create a cascade effect. 

Step 9:

Use the Purple Cupcake Mermaid mix and sprinkle the mix over the piped buttercream. For the side of the cake, use a spoon and a paint brush to push the sprinkles into the recesses of the piped buttercream. 

Add Purple Cupcake Silver pearls to accentuate the peaks. 

Step 10:

Next, lightly dust the Katy Sue Sea Shell mould with corn starch. Use gold sugar paste to fill the shell mould and produce one of each shell.

Roll out the rest of the gold paste and use the FMM cutters to create 1x large Mermaid tail and 3x small tails. Set aside and leave to dry.

Once dry, dust the shells and mermaid tails with Colour Splash Dust Snowflake. Gently rub the dust into the paste for a high sheen.

Step 11:

Add the large mermaid tail to the top of the cake and the three smaller tails onto the side of the cake. Use buttercream to stick them to the cake and to cover any joins. Add the moulded shells to the cake.

Step 12:

Next, take out the Cake Star Mermaid stencil, the Light Colour Splash Light Gold, and a dusting brush.

Once the sugar paste is completely dry*, add the stencil design to the side of the cake.

*Top Tip: Leave the paste to dry overnight to avoid marking.

Take the stencil and gently curve it and hold it against the front of the cake. Load the paintbrush with dust and begin to dab the brush against the stencil. Steadily build up layers of gold dust and work it into the paste by gently rubbing. Remove the stencil once the whole design is coloured. 

Top Tip: Carefully remove excess dust with the tip of a slightly damp paintbrush.

Step 13:

To finish, add extra pearls or sprinkles to cover any gaps or joins.