3D 1
Doctor Hoo
by Jessica Halstead · submitted Aug 15, 2011 · 2011 contest
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Description
As a recently converted Dr Who fan, I knew right away that this was *the* shirt to cake-ify. Since the detail in the owls is critical to make each one look like their respective Doctor, I wanted them to be big enough that I could make the features really clear. I considered making the owls out of fondant, but since they're pretty much the entire design I thought it would more fitting to try to make them out of cake. That's when I realized that cake pops - without the sticks - would be a perfect medium (thanks Bakerella!).
I baked a spice cake from a mix, as mixes seems to produce a texture that is perfect for cake pops. After it had cooled, I crumbled the entire cake into crumbs. Then I mixed in part of a tub of cream cheese frosting to make a barely moist mixture. I used store-bought frosting for this step since the stabilizers in the icing keeps it from getting too soft while handling the pops.
Since there are 11 doctors, I divided the mixture into 12 cake balls so I'd have an extra in case anything went wrong. Then I shaped the balls to roughly look like each doctor and put them in the fridge to set up a bit.
Next I dipped the cake figures in colored candy coating -- I used either off-white, light brown, or dark brown depending on the general base color for each owl. Then I mixed up and tinted some gum paste and started on the features. I used the tip of a paring knife, toothpicks, and straight pins to add the smaller details to the gum paste pieces. This was by far the most time-consuming step; each owl took about 2 hours. With 11 owls, that adds up fast!
Once the owls were done (except for the scarf, which I did very last) I made a cake base for them to sit on. I baked two 9x13" chai spice cakes and a batch of gingered cream cheese frosting. Since the owls were fairly large, the cake had to be long. I split the two cake layers in half lengthwise and stacked them to make a 2-layer 26x4.5" cake, frosted the monster, and (barely) wedged it into the fridge to set.
Meanwhile I tinted some fondant blue and some dark brown. Once the cake had chilled, I had to decide how to cover it. I am not very good at covering cakes with lots of corners with fondant, but I have seen good results with using panels so I thought I'd give it a try. Bad move. The weather was so warm that it hardly took any time for the frosting to warm up and the panels were so heavy they just kind of pulled blobs of frosting off as they slumped down the sides. It was not pretty! If I could go back, I would use one big piece to the the front, top, and back, and then two smaller panels for the end. I eventually got it to hold together for the most part so I moved on.
The next trick was figuring out how to get the owls to stand on the cake without using toothpicks or any kind of non-edible anchor. I decided to use a sharp knife to cut a thin slice off the bottom of each owl so they had a good flat surface to sit on. Then I used scrap cake to make a small wall, also frosted and covered in fondant, to provide support from the back. Then I made a tree branch out of the dark brown fondant and used a small amount of water to stick it pretty firmly to the cake surface. The owls could then be wedged between the cake wall behind and the branch in front and they were fairly stable.
The last step was to make the scarf. I rolled the scraps of tinted gum paste into long ropes and laid them on a sheet of white gum paste and then rolled the ropes flat to stick them to the white. I cut strips from this sheet and stuck them end to end for the longer segments.
The finished cake was so long, it was difficult to get all of it in a photo. Once I got the best pic I could, it was time to dig in! I gave my boyfriend the owl that was the most difficult/frustrating to make (Doctor #7) and I had a slice of the base cake. Both were delish! My boyfriend's favorite part? Having a reason to say, "Regenerate from THAT! *om nom nom*"
I baked a spice cake from a mix, as mixes seems to produce a texture that is perfect for cake pops. After it had cooled, I crumbled the entire cake into crumbs. Then I mixed in part of a tub of cream cheese frosting to make a barely moist mixture. I used store-bought frosting for this step since the stabilizers in the icing keeps it from getting too soft while handling the pops.
Since there are 11 doctors, I divided the mixture into 12 cake balls so I'd have an extra in case anything went wrong. Then I shaped the balls to roughly look like each doctor and put them in the fridge to set up a bit.
Next I dipped the cake figures in colored candy coating -- I used either off-white, light brown, or dark brown depending on the general base color for each owl. Then I mixed up and tinted some gum paste and started on the features. I used the tip of a paring knife, toothpicks, and straight pins to add the smaller details to the gum paste pieces. This was by far the most time-consuming step; each owl took about 2 hours. With 11 owls, that adds up fast!
Once the owls were done (except for the scarf, which I did very last) I made a cake base for them to sit on. I baked two 9x13" chai spice cakes and a batch of gingered cream cheese frosting. Since the owls were fairly large, the cake had to be long. I split the two cake layers in half lengthwise and stacked them to make a 2-layer 26x4.5" cake, frosted the monster, and (barely) wedged it into the fridge to set.
Meanwhile I tinted some fondant blue and some dark brown. Once the cake had chilled, I had to decide how to cover it. I am not very good at covering cakes with lots of corners with fondant, but I have seen good results with using panels so I thought I'd give it a try. Bad move. The weather was so warm that it hardly took any time for the frosting to warm up and the panels were so heavy they just kind of pulled blobs of frosting off as they slumped down the sides. It was not pretty! If I could go back, I would use one big piece to the the front, top, and back, and then two smaller panels for the end. I eventually got it to hold together for the most part so I moved on.
The next trick was figuring out how to get the owls to stand on the cake without using toothpicks or any kind of non-edible anchor. I decided to use a sharp knife to cut a thin slice off the bottom of each owl so they had a good flat surface to sit on. Then I used scrap cake to make a small wall, also frosted and covered in fondant, to provide support from the back. Then I made a tree branch out of the dark brown fondant and used a small amount of water to stick it pretty firmly to the cake surface. The owls could then be wedged between the cake wall behind and the branch in front and they were fairly stable.
The last step was to make the scarf. I rolled the scraps of tinted gum paste into long ropes and laid them on a sheet of white gum paste and then rolled the ropes flat to stick them to the white. I cut strips from this sheet and stuck them end to end for the longer segments.
The finished cake was so long, it was difficult to get all of it in a photo. Once I got the best pic I could, it was time to dig in! I gave my boyfriend the owl that was the most difficult/frustrating to make (Doctor #7) and I had a slice of the base cake. Both were delish! My boyfriend's favorite part? Having a reason to say, "Regenerate from THAT! *om nom nom*"