I thought doing a luxury cake version of Fake Bakes from M&S was do-able. How NAIVE was I?! £10 for a fancy looking cake from M&S?! All the LOLs.

X-Ray was campaigning for a Colin the Caterpillar fake bake. I couldn't improve on perfection so negotiated doing a Percy Pig cake with him instead and he reluctantly agreed. If I was arrogant before I strutted into M&S with my tenner, fully confident I'd be crowned the best Fake Baker of all time, I certainly had that bubble burst as soon as I started the challenge. What.A.Mess.

I gave up half way through and just hacked away at the Swiss rolls and chucked them on the plate. I thought it was the end of Fake Bakes. I'd peaked a few times and now it's all downhill from there.

But I had to have my redemption arc. Percy Pig and I aren't going down without a fight. So I went back in there, again with another tenner, and even bigger ambitions.

I was going to attempt a £10 M&S Percy Pig tiered META cake. Meta cakes are cakes referenced on a cake. Cake Inception.

And this time, I won.

Fake Bake Recipe - Percy Pig Cake

@angesdesucre £10 M&S #percypig fake bake #cake! #foryou #cakesoftiktok #mands #mandsfood #cakedecorating #moneytips #budgetfood #cakesoftiktok #fyp ♬ Quirkle - Joss Peach

Ingredients

1x Ready-made Victoria Sponge Cake (5" or 6" size)

1 tub (400g) of ready-made Percy Pig flavour frosting

1x Percy Pig muffin

Mini Victoria sponge cakes

Percy Pigs

Method

1. Prepare the cake decorating station with a cake turntable, angled palette knife, cake scraper, a cake board, a tablespoon, a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle, a knife and a spatula.

2. Unbox the cakes. Smear a dollop of frosting in the middle of the cake board on the turntable, and then place the standard size layer cake on the board. Decant the frosting into a bowl and whip or stir to loosen and lighten it. Pipe the frosting around the cake and smooth it with the edge of the palette knife, or a plastic cake scraper. Smooth the top of the cake. Place in the fridge to chill and set.

3. Place a mini sponge layer cake on top of the frosted cake, towards the side. Pipe the frosting around the mini cake and smooth it with the edge of the palette knife, or a plastic cake scraper. Smooth the top of the cake. Place in the fridge again to chill and set.

Frost a second mini Victoria sponge cake and smooth the top and sides.

4. Chop 6-7 Percy Pigs and place in a heatproof bowl. Add 7-9 tablespoons of hot water to it and stir together over a water bath/double/boiler/bain-marie until it forms a syrup. Strain out any undissolved bits with a sieve if needed.

5. Use the back of a teaspoon to drip the warm syrup over the edges of the cakes.

6. Chop 2-3 Percy Pig sweets into little pieces. Place them along the base of the cake and sprinkle over.

7. Fit a piping bag with a small star nozzle tip and fill with the remaining frosting. Pipe swirls over the top of the cakes. Place the Percy Pig muffin on top of the cake.

8. Cut a slice out of the frosted mini cake. Place the slice on top of the muffin and the rest of the cake on the main cake. Decorate with Percy Pigs.

What do you think?! I don't think it's as polished as some of the other fake bakes, and the Percy Pig frosting could be pinker. But it's one of the most popular fake bakes and that's probably because Percy Pig has such a large cult following (including myself!).

If you fancy something even more special than an M&S Percy Pig cake, take a look at our massive birthday cake collection. You can browse and order from our Meta Cake Collection for cake delivery all over London.

Lots of love,

Reshmi xoxo

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