1.Knead 500g ready-made icing on surface dusted with a little cornflour until icing loses its stickiness. Brush the large wooden board with sugar syrup. Roll icing large enough to cover board. Using rolling pin, lift icing onto board smooth with hands then smoothing tools. Trim icing neatly around base of board, then smooth edge with cornfloured fingertip. Stand overnight to dry.
2.Reserve half the royal icing, cover surface to keep airtight. Use a damp paper towel to dampen the icing on board (this helps hold the stencil in position). Hold stencil against icing on board, use spatula to spread royal icing over entire stencil, scrape away excess, return to bowl, gently remove stencil. Wash and dry stencil before reusing. Repeat until board is stencilled all over. Stand 1 hour or until dry. Cover surface of leftover royal icing in bowl.
3.Trim cakes. Secure one deep cake to stencilled board, push 3 trimmed skewers into centre of cake.
4.Secure remaining cakes to smaller boards; push 3 trimmed skewers into centre of deep cake and secure to top of cake on stencilled board. Secure the shallow cake on top of the cake stack. Prepare cake for covering with ready-made icing (page 209).
5.Knead 1.5kg ready-made icing on surface dusted with a little cornflour until icing loses its stickiness. Roll icing on cornfloured surface until large enough to cover cake. Using rolling pin, lift icing onto cake; smooth with hands then smoothing tools. Trim icing neatly around base of cake. Dry overnight.
6.Secure stencil around lower third of cake with pins. Use spatula to spread royal icing over stencil, remove excess icing with scraper, return to bowl. Gently remove pins and stencil, wash and dry stencil before using again. Repeat until stencil is completed around the lower third of the cake. Stand about 1 hour to dry.
7.Half-fill piping bag with royal icing, pipe around base of cake. Use fingertip to blend icing into any gaps where cake joins the board. Dry cake overnight.
8.To make royal icing, sift icing sugar through a fine sieve. Lightly beat the egg white into a small bowl until mixture is just broken up (do not whip into peaks). Beat in the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches desired consistency. Using a wooden spoon mix in the lemon juice.
9.Tint any leftover royal icing black, cover surface to keep airtight.
10.Lightly dust shallow bowls with cornflour.
11.Knead remaining ready-made icing with a pinch of tylose on cornfloured surface until icing loses its stickiness. Roll icing on cornfloured surface into 2mm ( 1 ¹/ 6-inch) thickness. Roll icing into a rectangle about 25cm x 35cm (10-inch x 14-inch). Use damp paper towel to dampen the icing to help hold the stencil in position. Place stencil over icing, spread evenly with black royal icing, scrape away excess icing, return to bowl, gently remove stencil. Wash and dry stencil before reusing to stencil over another area.
12.Use a sharp pointed knife to cut icing into 6 random-sized elliptical shapes before the royal icing dries. Drape shapes in shallow bowls, stand overnight to dry.
13.Cut wire into 18cm (7¼-inch) lengths, then bend in half. Secure wire to backs of shapes with royal icing. Place on baking-paper-lined tray to dry overnight.
14.Push wired shapes into top of cake on day of serving (keep in an airtight container until ready to use). Wrap ribbon around base of cake, secure ends with a dab of royal icing.
Equipment: 30cm (12-inch) round wooden cake board pastry brush 1 quantity sugar syrup smoothing tools stencil medium offset metal spatula 6 wooden skewers 2 x 18cm (7-inch) round wooden cake boards fine pearl-headed pins straight-sided metal scraper paper piping bag small shallow bowls 3 lengths 18-gauge floral wire wire cutters Black and white may be considered neutral colours, but they bring a bold look to this cake. The colours complement each other, giving this cake clean classic lines that have plenty of `wow’ factor. This cake can be a little tricky to cover. Drape the rolled ready-made icing over the cake it will hang with loose folds. Gently, without stretching, ease the folds out of the icing as you press the icing around the cake. Trim off excess icing at the base of the cake. There should be no pleats or creases in the icing if done correctly. If you use the same recipe for all three cakes, you can simply join the cakes with jam or ganache, and not use the cake boards between the layers. However, if you want to use different cakes for the layers use the cake boards under each cake to make serving the cakes easier.
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