Star burst birthday cake.

I really enjoyed making the stars on this cake, it was probably the only thing that was very straight forward. I had some issues with the top tier, not least the fact that my daughter stuck her thumb in the buttercream and didn't tell me until it had crusted. I tried adding more buttercream but when it came to putting the fondant on the buttercream was too thick and everything went horribly wrong.

I think I'm a little hormonal at the moment. I did a HULK SMASH! on the cake and hurled it across the table in frustration.

I decided then that I would make a white chocolate ganache for the top tier instead of using buttercream. I sent the husband to get some chocolate and he came back with cooking chocolate. You cannot make ganache with cooking chocolate, I suspect as much but I thought I would try. It was a hideous oily mess. I sent the husband to the shop again this time with the instruction to buy white CHOCOLATE. 

So onto the stars... very simple. I added a little tylose powder to the fondant and let it rest for a few minutes (wrapped in cling film). Then I rolled it out, cut out twice as many star shapes as I needed and let them dry for a few minutes before moving them. I lay one star down on the mat, brushed it with a little edible glue and placed a piece of florist's wire on top. I then covered that with another star and gently pressed them together. and hung them to dry. They looked very effective on the top of the cake. A word about inserting wire into cake - don't do it. I pushed a straw into the centre of the cake, covered the hole with a blob of fondant and then pressed the wires down into that so that they didn't actually touch the cake.