One Direction Cake

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I've entered into the world of One Direction cakes - Argh! When Clare asked me to make her daughter's 6th birthday cake, I'll admit to being stuck for ideas. Clare showed me a pic of the logo that she was thinking of incorporating and we went from there. I suggested perhaps a girly theme and pinks and purples and just HAD to have a go at stripes - OMG they took forever! But I loved doing them.

I'm really pleased with the One Direction logo done freehand and with added sparkle. I got some feedback from my girls on the cake which was nice... Violet said it was 'Fab.oo.luss' and Millie said she HAD to have that exact cake for her next birthday - From a 9yo that spends endless hours singing along to every word of One Direction, that is praise indeed.

Why you will enjoy making this One Direction Cake

• So much easier than trying to make a cake for one of the actual One Direction members. I've seen hundreds of Harry Styles Cakes that look nothing like him.
• You can change the colour scheme to fit in with the theme of the birthday party. For a more teenage birthday cake, rose golds and blacks work really well together.
• If you are slightly nervous of modelling, these stripes provide a real focal point and can be easily removed or fixed if one goes a bit wonky when attaching to the board.

How to make this One Direction Cake

What you will need

• 9 inch (23cm) square birthday cake
• At least a 13" square cake drum. If you want to make the board really stand out, you can get away with even a 14" or 15" cake drum.
• Coloured fondant - The beauty of this cake is that the actual cake is fairly simple to decorate but you need at least 4 different colours of fondant for the board.
• 15mm satin ribbon for around the board edge. Better to have this in a neutral colour like white or silver (Bright pink also looks good with this board colour combination)
• Edible Sparkle - I use Magic Sparkles.

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How to make the 1D Logo from fondant

Your Logo is best to be made freehand. You are not looking for an exact replica of the Logo. In fact, for most children's birthday cakes, just simply using 1D will be enough of an effect. I would practice getting the look that you are happy with by drawing it out on paper and placing over the top of the decorated cake for size first.

How to add Edible Sparkles

In a small ramekin, take one medium pinch of Magic Sparkles and crush using the bottom of a rolling pin until they are very fine. You can use your fingers to crush them but risk losing some of them as they will stick to your fingers.

Lightly paint over the surface that you want to cover with sparkles using edible glue. You only want the surface to be tacky rather than wet.

Sprinkle on the magic sparkles and enjoy the glitter!

How to make a striped cake board

You will notice from the cake board above that I use a particular repeating pattern. I just find it looks better on the eye and I know when to use each colour. I always find it better to pre plan where things are going to go.

For this cake board, I started with the corners. The straight edges are much easier to fill in later.

For the zig zag effect, I used this zig zag cutter and pieced the 2 different colours together. I really like effect and am thinking of using on a completely zig zagged board soon.

Expert Tips to get a neat cake board

• Already have the cake covered neatly. You are going to cut each stripe and butt up against the sides of the cake. Alternatively, you could do the striped board then add the covered cake afterwards. You risk the cake not quite being in the centre of the cake board and you would have to have the stripes quite shallow so the cake sit evenly on the board.
• Paint a very small amount of cool boiled water or edible glue onto just the bit of cake board that you are working on to stick the fondant on with. If you make the board too wet, you risk the different colours of fondant merging into each other.
• Try to roll the different stripes to the same thickness so you don't get a lumpy board.
• Keep trimming the ends of the stripes (on the outer edge of the board) as you do them rather than waiting until they are all added. You can smooth the edges down with the sides of your hand but this is more tricky if your fondant stripes have started to crust and harden.

Other Birthday Cakes that you might be interested in:

Rainbow Drops Birthday Drip Cake

Paw Patrol Birthday Cake - This one is a little more complex if you decide to make the Paw Patrol Cake Toppers yourself. Alternatively, it is really easy if you buy ready made Paw Patrol Figures.

Superman Birthday Cake

Men's 50th Birthday Cake - More uses of fondant stripes on the cake this time, rather than the cake board.

Helen is a Blogger, Food Writer, Marketing Manager and Cake Expert. Go here to read the story of Helen and the Costello Family.