Invasion

I loved this design the minute I saw it. As the author of the picture book I Need My Monster, I knew that I had to make this cake!

The process took several days:
I baked and froze the cake so it would be easier to carve. I chose to use a standard cake mix as the base, but added extra eggs, sour cream, and pudding. This makes a wonderfully stable and predicable cake; not to mention it’s moist and delicious.

I spent one day making the gum paste features, the scroll, tail, eyes, feet, teeth, and horns. Then I painstakingly cut out the black fondant pieces and placed them on the gum paste to dry for a day.

The next day, I carved the overall shape of the cake before layering it and covering it in butter cream frosting.

I made marshmallow fondant and created two shades of blue. I rolled out the dark blue and covered the cake. Then I rolled out the light blue and cut out varying size circles for the monster’s dots. I attached the dots by wetting them slightly and placing them on the cake.

I created the feet, hands and tail by rolling out some dark blue and cutting out circles, which I filled with light blue circles; then I cut out the designs to go over the black fondant. The horns, tail, and feet are all white gum paste, covered with black fondant, and then the appropriate design was added. The gum paste also has a point carved into it so it could be inserted into the cake without any extra support.

I added the black fondant pieces, which had dried, and the eyes. Then I inserted the tail, horns and feet. Finally, I topped the cake with the prepared scroll.

It was great fun to make this cake. Everyone who saw it was astounded by its intricacy and deliciousness.