71 Comments

1. […] Mermaid don’t just do baking sheets and tins, they do Roasting tins too (although I have been using their mini roaster to bake cakes in for ages as it is such a great rectangular size for a football shirt cake!) […]

2. Hello!
   With my first first football shirt cake I made the same mistake with the sleeves… it was horrible to ice the cake with fondant… I have now to do another one and I´m glad to found your tutorial! Thank you so much!!!!! I´m looking (NOW) forward to make my second football shirt cake!!!!!
   Nice regards from Vienna!!

   1. Hello Vienna!

      Good luck with your football shirt cake. I hope you’ve got a nice easy football team badge to do. I don’t know how easy it is to get sugarpaper printed on over there, but it makes life much easier and looks so professional.

3. Hi, What size tin have you used to make the cake?

   1. Hello,

      Thanks for your question. For the smaller football shirt cake, the black and white one, I used the only rectangular cake tin I have which is 10 x 8″ and I use 3 x my Madiera cake recipe (see my post ‘My Mum’s Madiera cake recipe is the best in the world’)

      For the larger football shirt cakes I used my 12×12″ square tin, (with 4 x the Madiera cake recipe) but that does create a lot of cake to cut away from under the shirt sleeves. It never goes to waste in my house!

      Hope that helps.

      Emma

      1. Hi Emma, just had a look through all your cakes and they look amazing well done! I have starting baking a lot recently and I am going to attempt to do a football shirt cake for my boyfriends birthday next month. I will be using your madiera cake recipe for a 12×12″ square tin, I was just wondering how long you would cook this for?
         Thanks.

         Kimberley

      2. Hello,

         I made a Madeira Cake just last week which was a little smaller than the one you are making, (it was a 10 inch round) and I tried something different this time. I made double the recipe in the tin and baked that, then later in the day I did it again (twice the recipe) in the same tin. It made two much lighter cakes. It also meant that the cake wasn’t as deep and only took 45 minutes to bake. When I make this cake in one go and cut it in half to add the butter-cream it always takes around 1 1/2 hours to bake at 150 degrees using a fan oven.

         I would suggest waiting till the cake has risen and is a deep golden colour before you open the oven door and check that it is baked. I use skewers to check it is baked right through. If it comes out completely clean it’s done. If there are a few bits of cake mix on it, bake for another 5-10 minutes.

         I hope this helps.

         Good luck. I’m sure your boyfriend will be thrilled with the cake. My husband always is, but then again he gets to eat all the off cuts!

         EmmaMT

4. HI I was wondering where you got the template for the shirt from as i need to makke for my son-in-law

   1. Hello.
      Thanks for your question. I make my own templates. You’re the third person to ask about a football shirt cake template this week so I am going to be writing a post on how to do it this week.

      Watch this space…..

      EmmaMT

   2. Hello,

      I just wanted to let you know that I have written a post on How to make football shirt cake templates. There are two templates that you can download for your reference.

      Good luck with you son-in-law’s cake

      EmmaMT

      1. Thankyou for your help i will let you know how it come out

5. […] there you have it. If you want to see how I decorate a football shirt cake then see here. Feel free to click on the templates below to download the printable  PDF’s to […]

6. Just made this today, so pleased with the result! Thanks so much for your easy guide. 🙂

   1. Congratulations. I’m so glad it was a success!

      EmmmaMT

   2. Thankyou for ur template the shirt turned out very nice but i have been trying to get ur recipt for the cake but am unable to get it.
      I wonder if u can help many thanks
      Stuart

      1. Hello,

         Thanks so much for your comment. I’m so pleased your cake went well.

         The link to my Madeira cake recipe was broken, but I have fixed it now (thanks for the heads up!) You can see it on the page

         or it is listed on my recipes cake, or you can now link through from the Football shirt template page.

         Good luck

         EmmaMT

7. This is a fantastic post so useful thank you! Do you think it would work if I did red buttercream all over the cake then put white stripes made out of fondant icing on top (stoke city is red and white stripes). First time I’m trying any kind of special cake!

   1. Hello,

      Thanks for your comment. Now, I’ve had a look at the Stoke city Football shirt and boy that looks like a lot of stripes! My only concern with mixing the buttercream topping with the white fondant stripes is that the red food colour is very likely to bleed onto the white icing and it may get a bit messy.

      I think if I was going to do this football shirt as a cake I would use all fondant icing. I’d cover the shaped cake with a thin layer of buttercream then I’d cover the whole cake with white icing. I would then cut out the red stripes to lay over the top.

      I hope that helps.

      good luck

      EmmaMT

8. Thanks for d post but my challenge is d badge, what if i can’t print out from sugar paper, is there any other option? i have an order for next week and i need to get a MAN U logo. Thanks.

   1. Hello,

      I would use sugar paste and create the red and yellow Man U badge then write the ‘Manchester United’ in royal icing on it. As long as you get the shape of the badge as close as possible to the real thing it will look great.

      Why don’t you find a badge to use as a template on Google images. Print it off and cut it out so you can get the sizes right.

      I’d love to see how you get on. Why not pop an image on my Cakes, Bakes and Cookies facebook page?

      Good luck.

      EmmaMT

9. Hi thanks for this, I really love it and I’m really looking forward to trying it out. I just have two questions and they are 1) what size would you recommend doing the main shirt part, does it have to be big? also 2)I’m trying to do one with my boyfriend’s hockey shirt and it’s black, I was wondering how you would recommending dying the white ‘ready to roll icing’ – which is the only one I can get my hands on? I would really appreciate your help and thanks again for the tutorial 🙂

   1. Hello,

      Thanks for your comment. I have made this shape cake 4 times now. Twice I made it quite big (4 x my Madiera cake recipe) which I used a 14″ cake tin. I only have a square tin that big so there was plenty of cake off cuts to eat up! But I usually use my rectangular tin which is 20 x 26cm. Next time I have a shirt cake to make I think I will bake two cakes as I don’t think the cake has been deep enough in the past. You can make it any size you want and use my template as a guide. Print out the template. fold it in half lengthways then cut it down till it’s the same size as your cake tin.

      When it comes to black icing I only use the pre-coloured ones (you can get it online on amazon if you don’t have a cake shop near you.) I have tried to colour white sugarpaste to black myself before but I’ve never really got past the dark charcoal colour. You need to use a ton of black food colouring paste (not the liquid one’s you get in the supermarkets these are too wet. It needs to be a proffessional colour paste ) which just makes a big sticky mess. Sorry, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear.

      Good luck with your hockey cake. Don’t forget to post a picture on the Cakes, Bakes and Cookies facebook page so I can see how it turns out.

      EmmaMT

10. Thanks so much for ur detailed explanation. U made me happy. I cn now atempt it.

    1. So glad I could help. Good luck with your cake. If you get a sec once it’s finished please pop a pic of it on the CakesBakesAndCookies Facebook page so I can see the end result.

       http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cakes-Bakes-and-Cookies/260731630659816?ref=hl

       Thanks

       EmmaMT

       1. Hi,I am going to use a 12 by 12 square tin to have a 1st attempt at this..I was wondering if im right in doing 4 times the amount of madeira recipe..If i did it half and half so i had 2 seperate layers of cake..also..i dont have a fan assisted oven so could you please give me and idea as to temp and cooking times to do it this way..Many Thanks..x

       2. Hello there and sorry for the slow response. I’ve been away sunning myself!

          Have a look at the post I wrote on how to work out cake quantities for different sized cake tins (see link below). You’ll see the chart says to increase an 8″ recipe by 2 1/2.

          (https://cakesbakesandcookies.com/2012/05/02/cake-tins-and-quantities/)

          2 ½ the recipe will be okay to bake in one go, but if you would prefer to bake two individual cakes (which is what I have been doing recently as I get a much lighter cake then I would probably do 3 times the recipe and halve it. Make sure you only mix up enough for each cake before it goes into the oven (in other words don’t mix up 3 x the ingredients and leave half sitting around till the first cake is baked) as the air that you have mixed into the cake mix will have gone and your second cake won’t rise as well.

          It will take around 1 ½ hours to bake one cake at 180ºC (no fan) and around 30 mins for the individual cakes. Have a look at the post for how to check if your cake is baked or perfection.

          I hope that helps.

          EmmaMT

11. Tysm for the reply..I had a practice run and it was fantastic,the big bake lol will be next week..hoping it will be as good a success as the first..I will be sure to post pics praising your very helpful site and advice..once again..Thankyou..

    1. Well done. I love the idea of a ‘practice run’ – you are seriously organised!! Now you get to eat two cakes.

       Can’t wait to see the finished result. HAve fun

       EmmaMT

12. Hi I am a nan that has just started baking ??? I have been doing giant cup cakes but it us my grandson birthday soon and he wants a football shirt cake. NOW NIT BEING A GOOD CAKE MAKER I want it easy as poss. Can I do make two cakes as I cannot cut through cakes very well can I make two cakes and put one on top of the other stuck together with jam and the decorate. If so what amount of mixture would u use for each tine and how long would I cook it for. Please I need ur help regards chrissy

    1. Oh no Andrea, that sounds terrible. I hope you’re not too badly injured and are on the road way to a full recovery.

       I’ve heard of adding a bowl of water to your oven when you bake bread as it creates a nice, shiny, crust but I’ve never tried it with cakes before. I know that it creates a steamy environment. I must try that some time.

       I always bake my Madeira cakes on a rack in the oven rather than on a baking tray. I don’t put anything else in there. I found that I don’t need to when I don’t use the fan. The cake bakes more evenly. Switching from fan assisted to no fan has completely changed how my cakes bake. They are much more light and aren’t quite so domed. I wouldn’t add the baking tins to my oven in this instance. I think it has probably been advised to somehow control the heat moving around the cake, but if there’s no fan I don’t think it’s necessary.

       Let me know how you get on and I wish you a really speedy recovery. I know how difficult it is to do anything when you’re on crutches.

       EmmaMT

13. How do u make ur color icing xx

    1. Hello,

       When I am covering a whole cake in sugarpaste I tend to buy it ready coloured. If I can’t get the exact colour I need I use food colouring gels. These are more of a paste than the bottles you can buy in the supermarket and are seriously concentrated. You only need to pop the tip of a cocktail stick into the colour to add to a white sugarpaste to get a new colour (after a lot of kneading that is!)

       Hope that helps. Have fun.

       EmmaMT

14. OMG just love this recipe and have done two trial runs but each time my friends and neiboroughs just keep eating it. Now I am baking a surprise footie shirt for mt grandsons b day but I know he wants a chocolate cake. Can I do this in choc if so what measurements and ingredients would I use.. I bought the same size retangle tin as u use.

    Tx again please can u help :))

    1. Hello Chrissy,

       Thanks for your comments. First can I just say “WOW! Your grandson has just been signed up by Brighton and Hove Albion! That’s fantastic. Congratulations to him. You must be so proud.

       Right. Onto the cake. I would do 2 times the recipe for my one bowl chocolate cake for a 8×10” rectangular cake tin. That will produce a cake around 2” deep.

       I may even be tempted to go for a 3 x the ingredients if I wanted a deeper cake (3” deep). Sometimes the football shirt cakes look a bit odd if they are too tall, but I like a cake to be a decent size so I throw caution to the wind and make it taller. It’s all about preference.

       All in one chocolate cake
       

       I hope that helps. Good luck and have fun.

       EmmaMT

15. Just sent the last comment about the choc cake mix and me name is chrissy

    1. Sorry 4got to mention that the cake will be a Brighton and hove Albion shirt as he has just been signed by them

       Tx chrissy

16. Hello what a wonderful page! Thank you very much for making something so helpful. Do you think 1x 250g pack of ready roll regal ice icing will cover the cake or should I get a bigger pack? The other question is what size are your letter and number cutters and where did you get them from. Amazon and ebay have such a variety of different sizes i’m not sure which ones to go for. Thank you! Sarah

    1. Hello,

       Thanks for your question. I used a cake tin that is 8×10″ for this football shirt cake. That would need around 1.25kg (5 packs) of ready roll sugarpaste. When I first started out baking these cakes I tried to keep the costs down as much as possible by rolling out the sugarpaste really thin. I learnt the hard way that it doesn’t pay! It just tears if it is too thin. No one said cake baking was an inexpensive hobby!

       My cookie cutters were from Muji and are 7cm tall, but they are years old now and they no longer sell them. Jamie Oliver has some nice ones that are 7cm tall too. Not quite the same font but just as cool. see the link below

       I hope that helps

       EmmaMT

       http://www.jamieathome.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2ejamieathome%2ecom%2fshop%2fproducts%2fCookware%2ehtml&WD=cutters&PN=Alphabet-cookie-cutters-tin-100545NOC%2ehtml

       1. Thank you Emma that is really helpful. I am going to try to make the Arsenal badge separately and keep it wrapped in clingfilm, as i think that is going to be the trickeist and most stressful bit. I also need the snow to hold off for next weekend so that I can get the said cake up to Loughborough for my sons Birthday! x

       2. Hello,

          It sounds like you’re way more organised than me! I always avoid the ‘stressful’ decorating bits and then panic myself into them at the last minute! It’s never as bad or as difficult as I think it will be. Someone once told me that there’s no right or wrong way to decorate a cake. Just make it your own. Wise words I think.

          Have fun with your cake

          EmmaMT

17. Hi,

    Firstly…love your page and think this cake looks amazing!! Thanks for the instructions…I hope I can recreate your football shirt for my husband’s 30th and am now feeling really excited about it rather than the scared feeling I had earlier!!

    Sorry if you have already said but what icing would you reccomend? I’ve had bad experience of mixing colour into white icing before so like your idea if buying ready mixed colours. Is the a particular brand you can suggest?

    Thanks!
    Susie

    1. Hello,

       Thanks for your question. It’s always exciting making cakes for loved ones.

       When it comes to icing I use pre-coloured sugarpaste wherever possible. It’s quicker and cleaner to use and as it’s available in so many colours it’s a doddle. It’s readily available in cake decorating shops and Hobbycraft also sell it. It’s also available from Amazon. I’ll attach a link below so you can see what it looks like.

       Renshaw Professional Regalice – Atlantic Blue 250g
       I use regalice and Renshaw’s brands the most. They are softer and more maleable than the ones you get at the supermarket.

       The problem you may have had previously colouring the white (which is available in most supermarkers) is if you use regular bottles of food colour which you can also get in supermarket. It’s too wet. To colour sugarpaste you need to use a professional food colouring which is like a paste. It’s very strong and is a nightmare to get off your hands – hooray for silicon gloves! It’s also really difficult to colour white into red as you need to use so much colouring you just end up with a gooey mess.

       Squires Kitchen WISTERIA Blue Professional Liquid Food Colour Colouring 20ML

       I hope this all helps – and makes sence.

       Good luck with your cake.

       EmmaMT

18. Hello again Emma,
    I want to have a go at making the football shirt and I was thinking of buying the Wilton 13 x 9-inch oblong cake pan to bake the cake. Would this be the right pan to use? If so how much madeira mix should I use please.

    Kind Regards
    Tracey 🙂

    1. Hello again, How are you?

       Thanks for your question. I would use 3 x my madiera cake recipe for the whole cake but would probably split it in half bake two cakes separately.

       Hope that helps

       EmmaMT

       1. Thank you Emma.
          Would two cakes always have to be baked what ever size tin I used?

          Tracey 🙂

       2. Hello,

          No you can bake it in one go, I just have much better results baking two cakes separately. I always find that baking one cake makes the outside edge dry and the inside not as well baked. It’s personal choice/preference.

          Hope that helps

          EmmaMT

19. Hi just want to know for how many people is this cake?

    1. Hello,

       This cake will serve 30-40- depending on how generous you are with the cake slice!

       Hope that helps

       EmmaMT

20. Hello Emma ” me again ” lol

    While out food shopping today I picked up a 12″ X 8″ Bake Tray. On reflection the tin doesn’t seem big enough to make the football shirt! However when I read some of the past comments these measurements look as if they would be ok to make small football shirt? HELP lol is this the case please. Thank you so much for all your advice 🙂

    Kind Regards

    Tracey 🙂

    1. Hello, That size tin sounds perfect for a football shirt cake. The trick is to keep the sleeves small so you have plenty of ‘body’ cake to eat. Here is the template that I use. It fits a piece of A4 paper so should be perfect for your tin. You can always make it a bit longer.

       https://cakesbakesandcookies.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/football_shirt_cake_template-_rectangle_001.pdf

       Hope that helps

       EmmaMT

       1. Thank you Emma for all your advice. I haven’t been making big cakes for that long and you have really have got me out of trouble with all your good advice. I’m so pleased I found your web page and of course your lovely madiera recipe it really is the best I have tasted! The booby cake I made for my husband turned out very well indeed it got everybody’s attention thats for sure lol. I would like to send you you a pic to see what you think. Once again thanks very much.

          Kind Regards

          Tracey 🙂

21. […] This nicely done tutorial is by Emma at cakesbakesandcookies.com. […]

    1. the sleeves look a bit stretched!!??

22. Hi!

    I wanted to suprise my boyfriend by baking him a cake, what better suprise than a football tshirt. After 5hours of baking I have finished. All thanks to your website and instructions! The icing was a struggle but the template was a perfect trick in getting my cake just right. If I could upload a pic I would. Thank You for this brilliant website! Charn x

    1. Ah thanks for taking the time to comment. That means a lot to me.

       If you want to share your cake pics you can always upload them onto the CakesBakesAndCookies.com Facebook page. I’d love to see how it looked.

       https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cakes-Bakes-and-Cookies/260731630659816

       EmmaMT

23. Hi

    I am going to try and make this cake and your mums recipe sounds fab! I have bought a t shirt pan though and measurements are 11.5″ x 13.5″ 2.5″ deep. Was hoping you could help with the amount needed for recipe?

    Many thanks

    Yvonne

    1. Hello,

       Thanks for your question. I would use the recipe for the 12″ cake on this post. That should give you a nice 2.5″ cake.

       Hope that helps (and I’m not too late!)

       EmmaMT

24. Hello Emma!! I love you for being so patient with us and the way you explain? Genius! Thank you n God Bless you! Now my problem,been quite less busy lately so I decided to try baking,I only make cupcakes,I didn’t learn it anywhere, I just google recipes and follow instructions and it usually comes out well, people dnt believe that I didn’t learn it anyways to cut my long story short I only decorate my cupcakes with buttercream and other edible decorations like flowers,sugar beans and the rest, I have never baked a big cake neither have I decorated with fondant or sugar paste, as a matter of fact I don’t even know what sugar paste looks like but someone wants me to make a manu jersey cake for her birthday, she even offered to give me money(best believe I don’t miss out on any opportunity to make money 🙂 ) so apparently I couldn’t say no 😀 but I’m confused and I don’t know where to start from! I’m pretty scared and nervous and I really want to do this not just for the money (well its important too :p) but for the feeling I get everytime I do something people say I can’t do! So please Emmaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp! Thanks a bunch! Muah!

    1. Oh you do make me laugh! If you can make cupcakes (something I have only just learnt to do successfully!) then you can make a big cake!

       first decide how big you want the cake to be. I nearly always make Madeira cake as it is easy to shape and tastes great. You can see recipes for different size tins here

       Sugarpaste is basically roll out fondant. I’m not sure where you live but here in the UK we can buy it in our supermarkets- due to the nation going a bit cake/baking mad. This is what it looks like
       . You can get it in white and colour it but I tend to buy pre-coloured sugarpaste (aka fondant) as it saves on the hassle.

       If you are covering a cake for the first time I would start with a buttercream crumb coating then move onto covering a cake in sugarpaste.

       I hope that helps direct you to the posts that will help you get started. Don’t forget baking and cake decorating is fun!!

       EmmaMT

25. Hi Emma

    I’m planning to make a shirt cake for my son’s birthday. I have a 14″ x 10″ tin. would you recommend the same measurements as for 12″ x !2″? Thanks so much for your help.

    1. Hello, yep I would use a 12″ recipe so you get a nice deep cake.

       Hope that helps

       EmmaMT

26. Hi Emma!

    Thank goodness I found your football shirt cake tutorial. I have to make a football shirt cake for next week and have been soooo nervous about it! I love both cakes you show, but my favourite is the red Manchester United one. Do you have instructions for this as well please? Pretty Please???

    1. Hello,

       Sorry that is a cake I made 6 years ago before I took snap shots as I decorated. What aspect do you feel you need help with. Maybe I can help describe?

       EmmaMT
       x

27. Hi i am wondering what size tin you used making this cake and was it rectangle shaped? Also did you use 4 x your madeira recipe and if so how long and what temp did you bake this at? My son is looking for one for his birthday and yours has been the most helpful one I have found so thanks for that!

    1. Hello,

       I did use a rectangular tin. It’s 20 x 26cm. I made these cakes a while ago now so if I was doing it today I would measure how many ml of water the cake tin holds and then work out which cake recipe to use. If you look at the madeira cake post you’ll see volume amounts in ml under the cake tin size. If you measure your tin you can get a good idea. Or let me know what size your tin is and I’ll work it out for you.

       See the measurements on this post here

       I always bake at 180ºC (or 160ºC for fan ovens) The timing depends on the size of the cake but I tend to watch it, wait till my kitchen smells of cake and then pop a skewer into the middle to see if it comes out dry.

       I hope that helps

       EmmaMT

28. Thank you so much for fabulous madeira recipe & jersey tutorial,I made it last weekend for my nephew & it was such a success x

    1. Ahh that’s great to hear. Thanks

       EmmaMT
       x

29. Thank you for all your very useful advice. I made this cake today and your site was invaluable, lots of handy tips.

    1. Ahhh thanks so much. What a lovely comment to receive.x

30. Please how can I make an asenal log or can it be brought?

    1. Hello,

       I tend to get pictures from Google Images and ask my local cake decorating shop to print it onto sugar paper using food colour inks. It’s been really effective in my football shirt cakes.

       Hope that helps

       EmmaMT

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