• Bake our basic "Rectangular Party Cake" recipe
• Trim it level across the top if it has a raised surface, then carefully turn the cake over onto a foil-covered cake board, so you have the completely flat, cake tin base side, facing you.
• Cut off a 4cm deep strip from the top long edge of the cake.  
• Position this strip to slant in an open scissor position at the top of the cake. 
• Mix a full quantity of white icing, and split it ¼ white, and ¾ for colouring as black icing. 
• Black icing is achieved using black food colouring gel, available from speciality cake shops.
• Really white icing for this particular application is best achieved using white margarine as the base, instead of conventional yellow margarine. Do not buy white cooking fat in error.
• Spread the black icing smoothly across the strip and cake top and sides (leave broad white band areas open for ease of coverage later). Complete with the thicker bands of white icing, using a toothpick to help work ease the icing neatly into the areas where the black and white icings meet.
• Pipe white icing demarcation lines, hinge screw heads, and wording on the main cake, using a No 3 writing nozzle set into a piping bag. 

Party Snacks

• Home-baked biscuits using a star-shape cutter, with glitzy sprinkles and silver balls for decorating any that are iced.
• Gold-foil-coated dollar coin chocolates, or homemade Oscar statuette design chocolates (moulds available from party stores and cake decorating stores), would be appropriate.
• Tuxedo hot-dogs, made by wrapping the lower 2/3 of the vienna sausage filled bread roll with a double layer of white and black tissue paper, crossing over at the front. Fold the white layer over 1cm to give the effect of a black jacket with white shirt collar. A mini-bow-tie, of red cardboard or fabric, slide up like a serviette ring, to hold all the elements together.  Stand them up in rows like little men in their tuxedos, in a red, silver or gold covered open-top box.