Beauty before Death

This is my second entry. When I was first looking through the designs, I loved this one, but I decided to start with something a little easier. I chose a simpler design, The Marshmallow Factory, to get warmed up before taking on this daunting task.

I started out making three 9" round chocolate cakes, but I only ended up using two in this cake. I made it about a week before The 4th of July so I kept the third cake layer in the freezer and then made it into a 4th of July cake my family took to a party. Everyone loved it. I included a picture of this cake just for fun. :)

So back to the real cake. I stacked the two layers with buttercream frosting in between and then carved the cake in to a head and neck shape. I covered it generously with more buttercream frosting (yum!) and then made some fondant and rolled it out to cover the cake and the entire cake board. Then I made another batch of fondant (or two? I can't remember exactly how much fondant I made...) to make the hair and snakes and other various items. When those were all put on, I started coloring it with powder food coloring, and then black-lined it with black paste food coloring mixed with a little water. I saved painting the face for last because it seemed like it would be the hardest part and it was also the part I really wanted to get right. Overall, I think this cake turned out quite nicely. It tasted awesome too. After all, it was chocolate cake and buttercream frosting. Pure awesomeness as far as cake is concerned.

As for how long it took...well, as long as it takes to watch all three extended Lord of the Rings movies. Twice.