Request by Jhinx:
Request by Jhinx:
Hi ange this is what im planning on making using your madeira recipe (yum) in a square tin then place 3 to give the height!!! Just wondering that as i need so many diff shades of green n brown i am using white icing and mixing own colours. Could i mix colours and cut squares then put in fridge and fix the onto cake day after or do you think i need to do it all in one day! Ps how long will madiera last? Thankyou so much for this.
1) If you are going to stack three madeiras on top of one another then please insert dowels or drinking straws into all the layers or at least the bottom cake and the second cake in order for the cake to take the weight of the cakes above. Although Madeira is a dense cake it may buckle under three layers.
2) With the green you can dye white icing using the sugar flair party green as I said and build up your lighter green, then cut the amount of icing you have in half and add additional dye to one of the halves to make a darker green. (It doesn't take that long to get the required colours you are after). If you do it in stages you can do different shades.
3) Teddy Bear Brown Renshaw Icing.
This Brown here is called Teddy Bear Brown Icing and would save you time on the dying part if you bought it, you could also use marzipan as the lighter brown to save time on dying time too.
You can pre cut the squares the day before or a few days before but don't put them in the fridge, wrap them flat in clingfilm and place in a ziplock bag so they don't dry out. As long as they are kept in a cool dry place and wrapped they will be fine.
4) I'd say that the madeira will definitely last a week.
5) You could pre-ice the three cake layers with either marzipan or icing (before stacking) and then stick the squares to them with either water or edible glue.
If you use water dip the paintbrush in a cup and dab on your apron/kitchen roll (to get rid of the excess water) you want the brush damp not wet as your icing may bleed become sticky and may run/slide if it's too wet. If you use edible glue use it lightly.
6) If you are sticking squares directly to your sponge then cover the sponge very lightly with jam (scrape on scrape off) and then stick the iced squares to the jam, this forms as an adhesive and will stick the squares directly to the cake saving on additional icing.
If you want the squares to harden slightly before sticking leave them unwrapped about an hour before and they will harden as icing exposed to air dries the icing out.
Any icing you are not using wrap tightly in clingfilm and then in a ziplock bag otherwise, it will dry out and crack.
Let me know if this makes sense and if you need anything further.
)
You do what works for you, I tend to have two layers for an even finish, I marzipan first and then ice over so if I were making the cake I would marzipan each layer and then stick the iced squares to it as this would give you a nice work area with no crumbs or jam geting in the way (basically no mess, no wiping down etc). However, you do what feels right for you, what necessarily works for me doesn't always work for everyone else. 
