Annie Rigg's Curly Caterpillar Birthday Cake

Tasty toadstools, fruity fire engines, choccy hedgehogs – bake a cake that will really light up your little one's party.

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   1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Make the vanilla sponge mixtures (separately) and divide the extra large between 1ltr, 650ml and two 350ml ovenproof glass bowls, greased and dusted with flour, and the small among a 6-hole muffin tray, lined with paper cases.
   2. Bake just under the middle shelf of the oven until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean – 45-55 minutes for the large bowls, 30-35 minutes for the small, 20-25 minutes for the cupcakes.
   3. Leave the cakes to cool in their trays for ten minutes before turning them out on to wire racks to cool completely. Use a long, serrated knife to level the bottoms of the cakes, if necessary.
   4. Divide the buttercream between five bowls and tint each one a different colour with the pastes. Bear in mind that the quantity of buttercream needed for each cake will differ depending on the size. Cover each cake a with different colour of buttercream, spreading evenly with a palette knife.
   5. Peel the paper case off one of the cupcakes and freeze the rest of them. Cover the cupcake with buttercream. Arrange all the cakes on a board in a curly caterpillar shape in decreasing size of cake.
   6. Cut the liquorice strips into 17 x 5cm lengths and position in pairs on either side of each cake as legs. Stick the last length of liquorice to the largest cake at the front of the caterpillar as a mouth. Position the jelly beans on the ends of the legs as feet. Stick the sugar-coated chocolate drops above the mouth for eyes and the pipe cleaners in the top for the antennae. Use the writing icing to spell out the child’s name along one side of the caterpillar and to add more decoration, if desired.