3D
Fly Me Through the Cloud
by Christine Koch · submitted Aug 6, 2011 · 2011 contest
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Description
I started making cakes for fun a couple of years ago, and after making a couple of threadcakes last year, it was definitely something I wanted to try again this summer! After a long time of trying to find just the right shirt to recreate in cake, I came across this one, and it was just too cute to pass up! (It also seems kind of fitting to do a winged shoe since I am a cross country and track runner!). I had high hopes for this cake in terms of making it “fly,” but that didn’t really pan out so well, so I had to take some creative license with the original design. I imagine the little boy on the front of the shoe is just about to jump off with the shoelace so he can start swinging!
To start off, I baked one of my favorite cakes, Duncan Hines butter recipe golden, in two square pans. I stacked the cakes in a few layers and then carved them into the shoe shape. I had thought about the different ways I could suspend the cake so that the boy could hang below and I decided to go to the hardware store and get some paint stirrers, eye hooks, and fishing line. I didn’t have any power tools/thin wood so I glued the paint stirrers to cardboard and cut it out in the shape of the shoe for a base. I then took fishing line and connected it to the base in 2 spots so that I could eventually put the eyehooks into a big piece of wood, tie the fishing line to it, and suspend the cake. It was a good plan in theory, and it worked the first day, but the second day after covering the cake in fondant I noticed that the fishing line was just tearing through the cake. I had also put a few skewers in the cake to help support the fishing line (not that the cake needed support to stay together, but the base did!), but I probably would have been better off using a tube that the fishing line could run up. Anyway I wound up having to realize that that just wasn’t going to work, so I reluctantly cut the fishing line and removed the skewers since they were then unnecessary (got one out, but the other was glued to the base pretty well I guess!) I decided that I would just prop the cake up on two glasses instead of hanging it. For the shoe, I used a little piece of cardboard to get the mouth to stay open. I iced the cake and covered it in fondant which I then painted using food coloring and vodka. I made the wings and the little kids using fondant also. I did that early in the week so that the wings would have plenty of time to dry out and be sturdy, but they stayed a bit soft and sticky all week, so next time I'll have to try gumpaste! To get the kids to stay together more I used spaghetti to attach their heads to their bodies so it was at least edible :) In the end I couldn’t get the little boy to hang from the shoelaces so I decided to put him right on the front of the shoe because that looks like a fun place to ride too, right? ;)
Long story short…I at least learned a lot while making this cake! And I was still pretty happy with how it turned out. It took me 5 days to complete, working probably between 4 and 5 hours a day on it. I finished it just in time for my boyfriend’s visit, so he could help me eat it, and it was very much enjoyed!
To start off, I baked one of my favorite cakes, Duncan Hines butter recipe golden, in two square pans. I stacked the cakes in a few layers and then carved them into the shoe shape. I had thought about the different ways I could suspend the cake so that the boy could hang below and I decided to go to the hardware store and get some paint stirrers, eye hooks, and fishing line. I didn’t have any power tools/thin wood so I glued the paint stirrers to cardboard and cut it out in the shape of the shoe for a base. I then took fishing line and connected it to the base in 2 spots so that I could eventually put the eyehooks into a big piece of wood, tie the fishing line to it, and suspend the cake. It was a good plan in theory, and it worked the first day, but the second day after covering the cake in fondant I noticed that the fishing line was just tearing through the cake. I had also put a few skewers in the cake to help support the fishing line (not that the cake needed support to stay together, but the base did!), but I probably would have been better off using a tube that the fishing line could run up. Anyway I wound up having to realize that that just wasn’t going to work, so I reluctantly cut the fishing line and removed the skewers since they were then unnecessary (got one out, but the other was glued to the base pretty well I guess!) I decided that I would just prop the cake up on two glasses instead of hanging it. For the shoe, I used a little piece of cardboard to get the mouth to stay open. I iced the cake and covered it in fondant which I then painted using food coloring and vodka. I made the wings and the little kids using fondant also. I did that early in the week so that the wings would have plenty of time to dry out and be sturdy, but they stayed a bit soft and sticky all week, so next time I'll have to try gumpaste! To get the kids to stay together more I used spaghetti to attach their heads to their bodies so it was at least edible :) In the end I couldn’t get the little boy to hang from the shoelaces so I decided to put him right on the front of the shoe because that looks like a fun place to ride too, right? ;)
Long story short…I at least learned a lot while making this cake! And I was still pretty happy with how it turned out. It took me 5 days to complete, working probably between 4 and 5 hours a day on it. I finished it just in time for my boyfriend’s visit, so he could help me eat it, and it was very much enjoyed!
