3D Finalist
God Save the Villain
by Julie McMaster · submitted Sep 8, 2013 · 2013 contest
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Description
I've wanted to enter Threadcakes for a couple of years, but have never had the courage and/or time. This year, I decided to MAKE the time and summon the courage, so I'd have no excuses! My design choice was based purely on what would challenge me the most, and would enable me to learn! This design did both of those things in a big way! I had never made a head/bust cake before and I knew the structure and sculpting would be difficult, plus I used a medium I have very little experience with, i.e. modelling chocolate! I really wasn't sure how I was going to go about making this cake, and pretty much just figured it out as I went along!
The cake was carved from white chocolate mudcake, layered and coated with couverture white chocolate ganache, and decorated with modelling chocolate. There was almost no fondant in sight, which made for a rather decadent white chocolate overload!
I used both the original artwork as well as images of Queen Elizabeth herself, to help with carving the shape of the cake. The most difficult parts of the cake were definitely the hair and the crown. The thing that made the hair tricky was both the shape (all those waves and curls!) and the colouring. The crown was difficult because rather than having it rest on a regular, flat cake surface, it actually had to be nestled into her hair. This meant that I had to construct the crown (using royal icing) on her head. It was a very nerve-wracking process, and I did a huge happy dance when I removed the template from her hair and the crown remained intact!
The colouring was BY FAR the most fun part! I had coloured the modelling chocolate green for her hair, and I added extra layers of colour using various petal dusts, as well as painting on colour for definition with a brush. Painting her face (especially her mouth!) was so much fun! I used oil-based candy colours for her face, as well as a cream/brown coloured dust for the brownish highlights on her face (which didn't show up too well in my photos).
The earrings were made using modelling chocolate, a small amount of fondant, and royal icing. They (along with her eyeballs) were given a couple of coats of confectioner's glaze for extra shine!
All up, the cake took me 3 very long days (and evenings!) to create. It could not be more different to anything I have ever created before. I learned so much from it, and am very pleased that I found the courage to make it! There was a massive amount of cake in it, so it was carved up and shared amongst neighbours, the staff at my children's school, and my husband's workplace! I must admit, at first it was painful to cut after all the work that went into it, but once we realised the fun we could have with it (I look pretty funny with a 'Joker' eye!), we had lots of laughs!!! :)
The cake was carved from white chocolate mudcake, layered and coated with couverture white chocolate ganache, and decorated with modelling chocolate. There was almost no fondant in sight, which made for a rather decadent white chocolate overload!
I used both the original artwork as well as images of Queen Elizabeth herself, to help with carving the shape of the cake. The most difficult parts of the cake were definitely the hair and the crown. The thing that made the hair tricky was both the shape (all those waves and curls!) and the colouring. The crown was difficult because rather than having it rest on a regular, flat cake surface, it actually had to be nestled into her hair. This meant that I had to construct the crown (using royal icing) on her head. It was a very nerve-wracking process, and I did a huge happy dance when I removed the template from her hair and the crown remained intact!
The colouring was BY FAR the most fun part! I had coloured the modelling chocolate green for her hair, and I added extra layers of colour using various petal dusts, as well as painting on colour for definition with a brush. Painting her face (especially her mouth!) was so much fun! I used oil-based candy colours for her face, as well as a cream/brown coloured dust for the brownish highlights on her face (which didn't show up too well in my photos).
The earrings were made using modelling chocolate, a small amount of fondant, and royal icing. They (along with her eyeballs) were given a couple of coats of confectioner's glaze for extra shine!
All up, the cake took me 3 very long days (and evenings!) to create. It could not be more different to anything I have ever created before. I learned so much from it, and am very pleased that I found the courage to make it! There was a massive amount of cake in it, so it was carved up and shared amongst neighbours, the staff at my children's school, and my husband's workplace! I must admit, at first it was painful to cut after all the work that went into it, but once we realised the fun we could have with it (I look pretty funny with a 'Joker' eye!), we had lots of laughs!!! :)