If you're looking for a fruity cake recipe or an idea for a birthday or Christening cake then why not make this duck pond cake? It's so cute and kids will love the little yellow ducks on top.
I've mentioned my daughter's obsessions with various animals before. We've made a penguin cake, penguin cupcakes and a turtle cake as a result. Well at the moment, the obsession is with ducks so it was really only a matter of time before this duck pond cake appeared!
This is also the first cake I have made and decorated since Master Spice arrived back in April, although luckily he decided to have a nap while we were decorating it. Little Miss Spice helped by making some icing stars and hearts, then crumbling them all up and swiping them across the kitchen. As always, the cleaning up took up almost as much time as the decorating.
I'd actually been planning this duck pond themed cake and deciding how it would look for quite a while. But knowing that the Great British Bake Off was starting soon, was the push I needed to actually bake it. I love baking but I still don't consider myself to be an expert. It's something I'd like to do more of and improve my skills. So I'm hoping to have a go at some bakes inspired by the show over the next few weeks.
A Mary Berry Inspired Cake Recipe
As the GBBO was on my mind as I was planning the cake, I had to go with a Mary Berry cake recipe. I love fruit cakes and decided to use the marmalade cake recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I changed the dried fruit a little. Mary Berry uses glace cherries and sultanas.
I also didn't put as much marmalade glaze on the cake as in the recipe. I just used a very thin layer so the icing would stick. The cake was delicious - full of fruit and with just a hint of orange flavour. It was rather crumbly though, perhaps because of the amount of dried fruit in it.
You can see from the picture that my icing moulding skills certainly need a bit more practice, but it was all I could do to stop Little Miss Spice grabbing the ducks out of my hands and then off the cake and running off with them. I was planning to attempt a few more pond-loving creatures but in the end I left it as a plain and simple duck pond. Master Spice was also beginning to wake up and I sensed that time was running out. Until the next cake.
Duck Pond Cake Recipe
Recipe
Duck Pond Cake
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Cake
- 100 g butter at room temperature
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g raisins
- 140 g currants
- 2 eggs
- 175 g self-raising flour
- 1 tablespoon marmalade
Ingredients for Decorating the Cake
- 1 tablespoon orange marmalade
- white ready to roll icing
- blue food colour
- yellow food colour
- black writing icing
- green designer icing with a flat nozzle
- icing sugar
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a stiff cake batter.
- Grease an 18cm cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper. Spoon in the cake batter.Bake in the oven at 160°c or fan 140°c for 60-80 minutes.
- Turn it out and leave it to cool on a wire rack before beginning to decorate it. Melt the marmelade in the microwave and brush it thinly over the top and sides of the cake.
- Sprinkle some icing sugar on the work bench. Take enough white icing to cover the whole cake. Add some blue food colour and knead the icing until it is all mixed in. If the colour is too pale, just add a little more food colour.
- Roll out the blue icing and cover the cake with it. Trim off the excess icing from around the bottom of the cake.
- Wash your hands to get rid of any blue food colour. Add some yellow food colour to some more of the white icing. Knead it again and then form it into the duck shapes.
- Use the black writing icing to make dots for the ducks' eyes. Use the green designer icing to pipe the grass on the side of the cake.
Notes
Nutrition
You might also like my duck birthday cake!
Places I'm sharing this Duck Pond Cake
I am linking this to Bake of the Week at Casa Costello, Tasty Tuesdays at Honest Mum.
Helen at Casa Costello
I love how everyone gets stuck in with baking when GBBO time comes around - Fantastic job, you are a good baker! Love the ducks (and Mary Berry obv!) Thanks so much for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek again x
Corina
Thanks for saying I am a good baker. I suppose I just feel a bit inexperienced.
Honest Mum
Gorgeous duck cake, wow I'd buy that! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
Corina
Thank you.
Emily @amummytoo
That's adorable! My daughter would love that. Especially if I put Daddy Pig in there, having fallen in 😉 Have Pinned this post and scheduled in a tweet. x
Corina
Now why didn't I think of putting Daddy Pig in? My daughter would have loved that too!
dedy oktavianus pardede
Wow, cutie lil cake,
i'm affraid i didn't had any guts to eat thet beautifull art work.....
Corina
I know, it's such a shame to cut into a cute cake! It just means I have to have a go at making something else though
Traditionally Modern Food
Love those cute ducks. Beautiful cake
Corina
Thank you.
cheri
Hi Corina, what a very impressive cake, good luck in the bake off!
Corina
Thank you and hopefully I'll be an even better baker in a few weeks time!
Julie's Family Kitchen
Ahh, very cute cake. I can't wait for the Bake Off to start too, not long now.
Corina
Thank you. Even nearer the Bake Off now!
Emma | Fork and Good
Such a cute cake, I'm with your daughter, I love ducks!! This would rock my world. In my opinion you cannot go wrong with a Mary Berry recipe 🙂
Corina
Exactly. I have never had any problems with any of her recipes.