3D 2
Halfling and Wizard
by Tiffany Cook · submitted Aug 12, 2012 · 2012 contest
1 / 64
Description
Usually, I'm making cakes for other people... so for this contest I wanted it to be about me and my incredibly nerdy self. With that in mind, I chose Halfling and Wizard, so I could celebrate Bill Watterson's (Calvin and Hobbes) cartoon-y comic style AND Lord of the Rings (LotR, to the nerds). As a hobbyist cake-decorator (I think this is my 6th or 7th fondant covered cake), I try to incorporate new techniques into every cake I make. This was my first sculpted cake, first attempt at painting onto gumpaste, and my first time using ganache instead of buttercream (NEVER GOING BACK!). Also, I decided to accept the challenge of a completely edible cake. GAME ON!
I started out plotting - I can never translate my cake ideas onto paper well, but I tried, and had a lot of scribbles. I decided I wanted to make a 3D design, with 2D comic elements, so as to stick with Bill Watterson's artistic style. I should note that my sister wanted me to add Gollum to the river, and I considered it for a while, using Miss Wormwood's googly glasses-eyes with Gollum's creepy hair, but in the end, I decided I wanted to maintain the happy-go-lucky feeling in the scene.
First things first, I set to work on the gumpaste figures. I made Gandalf and Bilbo (I decided this was Bilbo, not Frodo, as the first of the Hobbit movies is debuting soon, woot!), some grass, the tree, and a sign that says Imladris (Rivendell) in Elvish, just for funsies. :) I created pick tips for all of the pieces, to make them easy to place on the cake.
Those dried for a day before I started painting them. I painted with vodka and Wilton/Americolor icing dyes. Then I covered the base of the Imladris sign in fondant, adding some white to the brown to try to give it a more realistic wood look. From there I sculpted the base to look like a wooden post, then attached the sign and let that dry.
Soon, it was baking time. I made a dense chocolate fudge cake and dark chocolate ganache to start. I layered, sculpted, then covered the cake completely in dark chocolate ganache. Left it alone for a night, then the next morning covered the cake in a second layer of white chocolate ganache, which I was able to smooth out and get a nice base for the fondant. I started getting excited and anxious and decided to cover the board I was using at this point.
I started the log after I sculpted the cake. I took a pretzel rod, dipped it in some candy melts, and then froze it for a few minutes to try to get as solid of a support as possible. Then I mixed up all the crumbly bits from sculpting the cake with some ganache to make cake-pop mixture. I took the pretzel rod out, used the cake-pop mix to create a "log" and put it back in the freezer to set (my fiance made lots of inappropriate comments at this point).
Finally it was time to cover the cake! I started with the hills, then moved to the river. I used a star tip to add some grass-like texture to the hills, then moved on to working on the log. Again, I wanted to make the log look realistic, so I covered it in fondant and sculpted to make it look more like a log.
Once I got the log situated on the cake, I started adding all the elements. This is always the hardest part of caking for me - I'm getting so close to being done, but I keep thinking of things to add or try! Finally, I got to a point that I felt I needed to stop, or I was going to ruin it. I added some brown petal dust to show the pathways I created on the hills and secured all the gumpaste figures. Then it was picture time!
Everybody was excited to dig into the cake, with the exception of me, because I can't eat it! I'm wheat-sensitive and made a gluten-full cake in order to keep it on the affordable side. That's ok though, because I was nomming on white chocolate ganache the whole time. We have a ton of cake leftover though - looks like we have second breakfast figured out for a while!
I started out plotting - I can never translate my cake ideas onto paper well, but I tried, and had a lot of scribbles. I decided I wanted to make a 3D design, with 2D comic elements, so as to stick with Bill Watterson's artistic style. I should note that my sister wanted me to add Gollum to the river, and I considered it for a while, using Miss Wormwood's googly glasses-eyes with Gollum's creepy hair, but in the end, I decided I wanted to maintain the happy-go-lucky feeling in the scene.
First things first, I set to work on the gumpaste figures. I made Gandalf and Bilbo (I decided this was Bilbo, not Frodo, as the first of the Hobbit movies is debuting soon, woot!), some grass, the tree, and a sign that says Imladris (Rivendell) in Elvish, just for funsies. :) I created pick tips for all of the pieces, to make them easy to place on the cake.
Those dried for a day before I started painting them. I painted with vodka and Wilton/Americolor icing dyes. Then I covered the base of the Imladris sign in fondant, adding some white to the brown to try to give it a more realistic wood look. From there I sculpted the base to look like a wooden post, then attached the sign and let that dry.
Soon, it was baking time. I made a dense chocolate fudge cake and dark chocolate ganache to start. I layered, sculpted, then covered the cake completely in dark chocolate ganache. Left it alone for a night, then the next morning covered the cake in a second layer of white chocolate ganache, which I was able to smooth out and get a nice base for the fondant. I started getting excited and anxious and decided to cover the board I was using at this point.
I started the log after I sculpted the cake. I took a pretzel rod, dipped it in some candy melts, and then froze it for a few minutes to try to get as solid of a support as possible. Then I mixed up all the crumbly bits from sculpting the cake with some ganache to make cake-pop mixture. I took the pretzel rod out, used the cake-pop mix to create a "log" and put it back in the freezer to set (my fiance made lots of inappropriate comments at this point).
Finally it was time to cover the cake! I started with the hills, then moved to the river. I used a star tip to add some grass-like texture to the hills, then moved on to working on the log. Again, I wanted to make the log look realistic, so I covered it in fondant and sculpted to make it look more like a log.
Once I got the log situated on the cake, I started adding all the elements. This is always the hardest part of caking for me - I'm getting so close to being done, but I keep thinking of things to add or try! Finally, I got to a point that I felt I needed to stop, or I was going to ruin it. I added some brown petal dust to show the pathways I created on the hills and secured all the gumpaste figures. Then it was picture time!
Everybody was excited to dig into the cake, with the exception of me, because I can't eat it! I'm wheat-sensitive and made a gluten-full cake in order to keep it on the affordable side. That's ok though, because I was nomming on white chocolate ganache the whole time. We have a ton of cake leftover though - looks like we have second breakfast figured out for a while!