Garden cake

[Rosie]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can help me with a project. My mum has her 60th birthday and retirement coming up and I would like to make an extra special cake for her. I have done different cakes in the past just as a hobby, but don't have any special equipment. My plan is to make a garden for her, based on a normal rectangular sponge cake but decorated with flowers, trees, shed, garden tools etc. The shed will be made from chocolate fingers or similar, tools prob sugar ones from ebay (!) but what else can I use to make it look really good without too much expense and outlay? Particularly for a central tree and different plants. I would like a little pond as well, any ideas? And what is the best thing to cover the cake with in order to create the garden? Icing so I can paint it or anything else? Thanks for reading this, please throw as many ideas at me as you can!!

[adele]

i would dye some roll out icing green then you will be able to paint and stuff on it

[rach]

wot about making a flower post with one big flower in it..or to make nice fir trees get yr modelling paste and shape into a cone and then cut little snips out to get the spikey bits