, Charlie s Vegie Patch
Serves 24, Prep 1 hour, 30 mins, Cook 1 hour, 5 mins
3 x 440g packets classic
chocolate cake mix 200g ready-to-roll white icing Crushed chocolate biscuits, mini icing flowers, and Edible Vegetable Garden Cake Toppers (see tip), mini chalkboard, to decorate
FROSTING
350g unsalted butter, chopped,
at room temperature 3½ cups icing sugar mixture 1 tblsp milk Leaf green food colouring gel 1 Grease two x 22cm round cake pans. Line bases and sides with baking paper, extending paper 4cm above pan edges. 2 Prepare cake mixes, one at a time, according to packet directions, reserving icing sachets for another use. Divide between prepared pans. Smooth tops. 3 Cook in a moderately slow oven (160C) for about 1 hour, 5 minutes, or until cooked when tested. Remove. Stand in pans for 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. 4 To make frosting, beat butter in a large bowl of an electric mixer until pale. Beat in sugar, ½ cup at a time, until smooth. Beat in milk. Tint green with gel. Reserve 1 cup of frosting. 5 Trim top of cakes to sit flat. Place one cake onto a cake board. Spread top with ½ cup frosting. Invert remaining cake on top. Spread remaining frosting over top and side of cakes. 6 Knead icing on a clean bench until smooth. Roll out between two sheets of baking paper into a 14cm x 20cm rectangle, about 5mm thick. With long side facing you, cut out seven strips, 2cm wide. Cut strips in half crossways. Trim two corners from each to represent palings. 7 Cut remaining icing into 14 strips, 1.5 cm wide by 3cm long. Alternately, arrange all strips around cake to make a fence, as pictured. 8 Place reserved frosting into a piping bag, fitted with a 7mm star nozzle (8 point). Pipe around edge of cake. Sprinkle biscuits in the centre. 9 Decorate with mini flowers and vegetable cake toppers. Insert chalkboard sign.