3D 5th place 1
ZOMBIE SURVIVALIST
by rebecca mcdowell @beccaharley · submitted Sep 12, 2013 · 2013 contest
1 / 70
Description
This year i decided to really challenge myself with regards to the structure and carving of the cake and this design was always kicking around the land of possibilities, i just never had the balls (or some may say stupidity) to try it.
I baked a mix of vanilla and chocolate cakes and, using my lucky threadcake board from last year, got the tree stump done first.
I then started on the zombie head (i call him Rob), partly to help get the scale right but also because i wanted to move away from the all over red colour scheme in the design and open the colour palette up and the zombie head seemed a good place to start.
He ended up being a sort mishmash of cartoony proportions with realistic colouring and with just a smattering of gore from the open wounds.
I then stacked and carved the body with the idea being to carve her back, along with her bow and arrow backpack, as well as the front. I always knew the arms and the legs were going to be a mix of marzipan, icing and rice crispie mix, so it was important to have enough cake there to support all the limbs.
The limbs stayed on pretty well with the help of royal icing and a few strategically placed tooth picks, the only one that ended up being gravity's play thing was the one i knew would be a pain and thats the one holding the sword. It stayed put, but had it had to travel further than from one end of the kitchen to the other, i dont think Red would have had a left arm for long.
When it came to her head, i wasn't sure how graphic to make her face, its that trick of trying to get something 3D to look like the flat version without it looking flat compared to the rest of the cake. I painted her lips on in a relatively realistic fashion, which didn't look awful, but it didn't look like her somehow (I actually think she ended up having a bit of an Anne Robinson smirk about her!) so i went quite graphic and true to the image with her eyes and lips.
I had a board i was going to balance her head on but when it came to it, it just stuck out too far and i then learnt the lesson of the day, PERSPECTIVE. I had made her head the right size if it was going directly on top of the body, but being placed further forward made it look a bit too big now. I ended up putting a plethora of toothpicks to pop the head on instead and this way i could have it sat a bit further back.
Due to my complete lack of time keeping skills i ran out of time, and thus her back was to be sadly unrealised, i also forgot her bow but managed the arrows.
The last thing i did was a quick test after the picture taking. I painted on some of the shading in black to see if it added anything, since i ummed and erred about it for ages. I don't think it did but it was interesting to see .
I worked on this cake sporadically for 4 days, and thoroughly enjoyed hacking her to pieces.
The non edible supports are the central pole, stick for the sword and several toothpicks in that cursed right arm and Reds head.
Favourite bits are Robs extra zombie brains with added blood splatter and sword piggy.
I baked a mix of vanilla and chocolate cakes and, using my lucky threadcake board from last year, got the tree stump done first.
I then started on the zombie head (i call him Rob), partly to help get the scale right but also because i wanted to move away from the all over red colour scheme in the design and open the colour palette up and the zombie head seemed a good place to start.
He ended up being a sort mishmash of cartoony proportions with realistic colouring and with just a smattering of gore from the open wounds.
I then stacked and carved the body with the idea being to carve her back, along with her bow and arrow backpack, as well as the front. I always knew the arms and the legs were going to be a mix of marzipan, icing and rice crispie mix, so it was important to have enough cake there to support all the limbs.
The limbs stayed on pretty well with the help of royal icing and a few strategically placed tooth picks, the only one that ended up being gravity's play thing was the one i knew would be a pain and thats the one holding the sword. It stayed put, but had it had to travel further than from one end of the kitchen to the other, i dont think Red would have had a left arm for long.
When it came to her head, i wasn't sure how graphic to make her face, its that trick of trying to get something 3D to look like the flat version without it looking flat compared to the rest of the cake. I painted her lips on in a relatively realistic fashion, which didn't look awful, but it didn't look like her somehow (I actually think she ended up having a bit of an Anne Robinson smirk about her!) so i went quite graphic and true to the image with her eyes and lips.
I had a board i was going to balance her head on but when it came to it, it just stuck out too far and i then learnt the lesson of the day, PERSPECTIVE. I had made her head the right size if it was going directly on top of the body, but being placed further forward made it look a bit too big now. I ended up putting a plethora of toothpicks to pop the head on instead and this way i could have it sat a bit further back.
Due to my complete lack of time keeping skills i ran out of time, and thus her back was to be sadly unrealised, i also forgot her bow but managed the arrows.
The last thing i did was a quick test after the picture taking. I painted on some of the shading in black to see if it added anything, since i ummed and erred about it for ages. I don't think it did but it was interesting to see .
I worked on this cake sporadically for 4 days, and thoroughly enjoyed hacking her to pieces.
The non edible supports are the central pole, stick for the sword and several toothpicks in that cursed right arm and Reds head.
Favourite bits are Robs extra zombie brains with added blood splatter and sword piggy.
