icing a sponge cake

[H Bee]

hi all, for mothers day i am planning on baking my mum a sponge cake in and then making it into a car (some how). I want to us 'ready to roll icing' but was just wandering if i need to coat the cake in a jam first to make it stick???? i have never iced a cake before so this project is a little adventurous for a first time lol but she will love it if it looks good, even if it looks crap im sure she will still like the effort i made

[Lilac Moon]

Hi.... I would use apricot jam so it wont 'bleed' through the icing as much or you could try butter icing.. I think I have a design for a car cake. I'll see if I can find it for you.

[H Bee]

ooo thanks that would be great.

ill use apricot jam as i will be using butter icing and strawberry jam in the middle (i hope) and don't want it to be too rich. Im going to have a practice this weekend and see how it goes as if it doesnt work i have a week to think of something else

[Scorch]

Yup - warmed, sieved apricot jam, brushed on...

[the card shark]

A thin layer of buttercream works a treat. It's much easier to spread on the cake than apricot jam and the sugarpaste sticks to it better.

I always use buttercream to adhere sugarpaste to my sponge cakes including this one I did once:

[H Bee]

wow carol that cake is brilliant!!! did you have a template for the car?? if you do could you tell me where you got it from as my mums new car is quiet similar to a noddy car

[Rosamundi]

Hi

Your mom will love it

I brush my cakes with sieved apricot jam (put jam in microwave until it's warm and runny and put it through a sieve to get the lumps out) to stick things to it or I add a thin coating of buttercream.

One thing to remember if you aren't marzipaning (nothing wrong in that) is not to roll your icing too thin or the lumps and bumps will show through

[H Bee]

Thanks for the advice about not rolling the icing to thin, im not putting marzipan on as dont think it will go with a sponge. I'm making a practise cake this weekend, if it goes ok ill try and post a picture.