Piece of Meat Print

Let me begin by saying that I am not really much of a cook/baker. I like to do it, but I currently do not have the space, time, motivation to do a lot of it. However, I remember the fun I had in the last contest (despite the resulting travesty of cake that ensued). I was determined to redeem myself by 1) following the actual recipe directions 2) NOT substituting ingredients that "might work in a pinch".

I got a recipe off allrecipes.com "Black Magic Cake". With a name like that, it has to be good! Everything turned out ok except transferring the cake to a cooling rack when done. Despite following directions, the cake tore! Transfer fail! Fortunately it was a steak shaped piece. It wasn't large enough so I patched additional cake pieces & mended it with frosting.

For the surface I used a homemade fondant made from marshmallows, powdered sugar, water & shortening. (Made the night before). It was very sticky & my hands weren't properly greased so I wasted about an eighth of the batch trying to get it off my hands. I colored the meat part by kneading in some red food coloring. It took quite a while & I was afraid it would look more like bubblegum than meat. After I covered the cake with the red fondant, I brushed red gel icing on to create sheen and muscle grain. I used the white fondant to create the fat & bone. I decided the steak needed garnish so I made fondant carrots and lettuce.

My friend helped me with the photography for the main image as you will see the vast difference between that and the progress shots. All in all I had a great time and may create another entry. Best luck to everyone!