Christmas Character Brownies

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted oven)/Gas Mark 4. Grease a 20cm round shallow loose-based cake tin, and line the base with baking paper.
2. Make up the brownie mix as directed on the box with the oil, egg and water. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a round bladed knife inserted 5cm from the edge of the tin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely in the tin (about 45 minutes).
3. Remove the brownie from the tin and place on a chopping board in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Remove the lining paper and cut into 12 even-sized triangles (see Tips).
4. To decorate the Santa brownies: spread the tops of 4 brownie triangles with 50g of the vanilla icing. Roll the red icing out thinly on a surface lightly dusted with cornflour and cut out 4 triangles for the Santa hats (see Tips). Press one onto each brownie. Press the chopped mini marshmallows around the wide base of each brownie to resemble beards. Add mini red or pink sugar-coated chocolate beans for noses and use the black writing icing to add eyes and a mouth to each brownie. Cut the 2 reserved mini marshmallows in half and attach to the point of each hat with a little white writing icing. Use white writing icing to trim the base of each hat.
5. To decorate the snowman brownies: spread the tops of 4 more brownie triangles with another 50g of the vanilla icing. Cut a 3cm piece from each chocolate stick then cut 4 more pieces (each one gradually getting smaller) from each stick. Press the pieces onto the top of each triangle to resemble a hat. Add a short piece of strawberry lace for a trim. Use the black writing icing to dot 2 eyes and 3 buttons on each snowman and add an orange jelly bean quarter for the nose. Cut short lengths from the rest of the strawberry lace and press onto the brownies to resemble a scarf.
6. To decorate the elf brownies: spread a little of the remaining icing onto the bottom third of each of the 4 remaining brownie triangles. Use green food colouring paste or gel to colour the remaining icing green. Spoon the icing into a disposable piping bag fitted with a medium writing nozzle. Pipe zig-zag lines over the rest of each brownie to resemble hats. Add the chocolate stars to the hats for trims and bobbles. Press 2 edible candy eyeballs and 1 red or pink sugar-coated mini chocolate bean for a nose onto each brownie. Press 2 mini yellow jelly beans to each brownie to resemble ears.

Tips

• Freezing the brownie for a short while will make it easier to cut with less crumbs. For even-sized triangles, make a 20cm round template of baking paper and cut in half, then cut the half into a quarter and finally cut the quarter into thirds to use as a guide when cutting.
• Before you begin icing, turn the brownie over so you decorate on the base side. This way no brownie flakes will get caught in the icing when you are decorating.
• Use a small paper template as a guide when cutting the triangular-shaped hats for the Santa brownies; it needs to measure 2.5cm across the base and 5cm along the sides.