Ingredients

• 3 tsp baking powder
• 350g/12oz butter
• 350g/12oz caster sugar
• 350g/12oz plain flour
• 6 free-range eggs
• 2 lemons
• finely grated zest only
• 4 tbsp milk
• 500g/1lb 2oz icing sugar
• sifted
• red food colouring gel
• black food colouring powder
• black writing icing

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.
• Grease one 20x30cm/8x12in square cake tin and one 16x11cm/6¼x4¼in loaf tin (1lb/450g). Silicone bakeware will bulge slightly to give a slightly rounded appearance.
• In a bowl
• sift together the flour and the baking powder. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl
• cream the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes with a handheld electric mixer until it is very pale
• light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs
• one at a time
• adding a tablespoon of flour with each egg. Stir in the lemon zest.
• Gently fold in the rest of the flour using a metal spoon. Add the milk
• as needed
• to give the batter a soft dropping consistency.
• Transfer the mixture to the two baking tins so that each is roughly half-full and bake in the centre of the oven for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven
• cool for five minutes in the tins and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
• When cool
• cut and shape the cakes. Trim the top of the loaf cake so that it is a little flattened
• but roughly the same height as the large cake.
• With a short side of the large cake towards you
• cut two 5cmx10cm/2x4in rectangles from the bottom corners
• so that the bottom edge of the cake is now 10cm/4in wide
• and the whole cake is T-shaped. These off-cuts will form the feet.
• For the icing
• start with the pink. Combine half of the icing sugar with two tablespoons water and enough red colour paste to achieve a fleshy pink. Use a little of this icing to cover the bottom third of the loaf cake for the face.
• Add extra red food colour to the pink icing until it turns the desired shade of red. Spread across the body of the guard
• on the top (widest part) of the T-shape.
• For the black icing
• combine half of the icing sugar with two tablespoons water and mix until smooth. Add sufficient black colouring powder to achieve the desired shade. Ice the top two-thirds of the loaf cake to create the hat. Ice the bottom of the T-shape cake to create the legs and the off-cuts of cake for the feet (you may want to trim these to give him less clown-like feet!). Save some black icing for the arms
• buttons
• eyes and mouth.
• Arrange the cake on the presentation board with the head atop the body and the feet at the base of the legs.
• Put the remaining black icing in a piping bag and pipe in lines for the arms
• buttons
• eyes and mouth. Give him an appropriately stern expression.