3D 3rd place 4
Work of the Genius
by Megan Maller · submitted Aug 11, 2011 · 2011 contest
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Description
This cake was a collaboration between my boyfriend and me. It didn't take us very long to decide which design we wanted to make. We thought that this one would be challenging, but would look amazing if we were able to pull it off. It took a few weeks, working a couple hours every night to finish.
We started out making the outer shell that the cake would sit in. We made some black gumpaste, rolled it out, and set in over a bowl to let dry. It took about 3 days to completely dry. Through the following days, we made some gold gumpaste and made many pieces that we thought we would need and let those dry thoroughly. For the wind-up key and feet we used rice crispies covered in gumpaste and fondant. The cake is vanilla pound cake with vanilla buttercream, all made from scratch. We carved the general shape of the cake, covered it in black fondant, and set it inside the dried gumpaste bowl. Then, we began the most time consuming part, gluing on every individual piece that would make up the machinery inside the bowl. We let each piece dry before gluing it on with royal icing or edible glue (tylose powder and water) to ensure that the cake had a lot of depth and looked like a real machine. For the eyes we poured molten sugar into ring molds and set them inside the frames we made. The only non-edible thing on this cake are 2 toothpicks holding up the eyes.
This cake was a great challenge and learning experience for us. This is probably the most time and effort that we've spent on a cake which made cutting into it the most difficult task of all. Even after a week of sitting for the decorating phase, the cake was still buttery and delicious. Even the cat liked it.
We started out making the outer shell that the cake would sit in. We made some black gumpaste, rolled it out, and set in over a bowl to let dry. It took about 3 days to completely dry. Through the following days, we made some gold gumpaste and made many pieces that we thought we would need and let those dry thoroughly. For the wind-up key and feet we used rice crispies covered in gumpaste and fondant. The cake is vanilla pound cake with vanilla buttercream, all made from scratch. We carved the general shape of the cake, covered it in black fondant, and set it inside the dried gumpaste bowl. Then, we began the most time consuming part, gluing on every individual piece that would make up the machinery inside the bowl. We let each piece dry before gluing it on with royal icing or edible glue (tylose powder and water) to ensure that the cake had a lot of depth and looked like a real machine. For the eyes we poured molten sugar into ring molds and set them inside the frames we made. The only non-edible thing on this cake are 2 toothpicks holding up the eyes.
This cake was a great challenge and learning experience for us. This is probably the most time and effort that we've spent on a cake which made cutting into it the most difficult task of all. Even after a week of sitting for the decorating phase, the cake was still buttery and delicious. Even the cat liked it.