Christmas present cake

Cover the cake with avocado-coloured plastic icing (see directions under How to ice a fruitcake).
Colour a little of the plastic icing to make red, avocado green and dark-green pieces of icing. Roll out the different colours and use these icing strips to cover the sweets.
To make striped ‘presents’: Roll out a piece of white or coloured icing to a size that will cover a sweet, then cut thin strips of another colour. Place the strips on the flat piece of icing. When they’re all in place, roll over the whole piece with a rolling pin to attach the strips.
When parcels are hard, decorate with very thin strips of plastic icing. Use these strips to form ribbons and bows.
Mix the gold and silver powder with a drop of alcohol or cooking oil and paint the ribbons once they are in place.
To make the ribbon around the cake: Roll out a 4 cm strip of dark-green plastic icing. Wet the back and press on to sides of the cake. Use a ruler to make the edges straight.
Roll out white plastic icing and cut out 12 stars. Paint gold and leave to set for 1 hour. Once set, attach them to the green ribbon using a little royal icing.
Arrange the ‘presents’ on top of the cake and attach them using royal icing. Place the cake on the cake board and attach gold ribbon around the sides of the board.