Ingredients
Butter cream
Decorations
Chocolate leaves
Method
1.Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease and line deep 26cm x 36cm baking dish.
2.Make cakes according to directions on packets, pour into dish; bake about 1 hour. Stand cake 20 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.
3.Make jellies, separately, according to directions on packets; pour enough of the purple jelly into the green jelly until it becomes a “swampy” green colour. Refrigerate until set.
4.Using serrated knife, level top of cake. Turn cake cut-side down. Cut free-form shape of swamp from outside edge of cake, as pictured.
5.Position cake, cut-side down, on 48cm round platter. Mark a rough outline on cake for swamp water; hollow out area, making it about 2cm deep.
6.To make butter cream, beat butter until white as possible, gradually beat in half the sifted icing sugar then milk, then remaining icing sugar. Beat until smooth. Tint butter cream green.
7.Cover top and sides of cake with butter cream up to the swamp-water line.
8.Using whisk, break up jelly; spoon into swamp hollow.
9.Position violet leaves on jelly and animals and snakes on and around cake.
10.Make campfire by using sultanas and crushed boiled lollies. Position Flake for logs near campfire.
11.To make chocolate leaves, tint melted chocolate pale green using the green colouring. Brush chocolate onto back of clean, dry camellia leaves. When leaves have set (best at room temperature), carefully peel leaves away from the chocolate.
12.Using cardboard, make a “no swimming” sign; secure to wooden skewer or ice-block stick, position on cake.
13.Decorate side of cake with chocolate leaves.
Cake can be baked and cut into shape one day ahead; keep, covered, in refrigerator if weather is hot. Finish cake on day of serving, as per recipe. The remaining purple jelly can be used to make extra jelly cups. Young explorers will love this cake. The swamp is filled with murky (but delicious) jelly, hiding reptiles and jungle animals. Chocolate leaves and branches seem to have fallen into the swamp, watch these disappear first when the cake is cut.
Note
