Lady Gaga/ Garbage Birthday Cake

It's been awhile since I posted, sorry. I started a temp job that has me working from 6a.m. to 5 p.m., and with the roads being awful this week it took forever to get there and home. I am feeling crabby from missing almost all my workouts, but ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. Anyway, enough boo-hooing, in this busy time my brother asked me to do a cake for his boyfriend's birthday. I really didn't feel like trying to squeeze in a cake, but I haven't gotten to do any cakes this month- I needed to do some caking. My guidelines were that the birthday boy likes Snooki, Lady Gaga, and the band Garbage. My first idea was a Snooki bust, but with my limited time frame I wanted to pick something I could work on in shorter periods ahead of time. I decided on doing a smaller cake with a Garbage album cover on it, and the "meat boots" Lady Gaga wore to the VMAs

My first step was to lay out my composition:

I started with the meat shoes as they were going to be rice cereal teats and could be done farther ahead than working on the actual cake (which I had already baked and threw in the freezer a few days earlier). I started the process on Tuesday (the cake was supposed to be for Saturday), and mad a big batch of cereal treats.

I traced the bottom of a high heel onto my piece of styrofoam that I was using to make the boot shape to use as a general guide:




 

I just starting smooshing the cereal mixture into a boot-shape. It took the entire batch, so I called it a night after the first boot- I figured I could carve more off the first boot the next day after it firmed up, and then work on the second. Here is the first one after carving the next day:

Then I used that as a guide to mold the second boot:

After I shaped the second boot, I started too add the "meat" to the first boot.

I opted for modeling chocolate for the meat. I think the texture looks like beef fat, with kind of the same consistency

I started by rolling out a piece of red modeling chocolate. Then I started adding pieces of off-white modeling chocolate and rubbing them to thin and blend into the red. I just kept layering and blending til I felt happy with it.

I used some green modeling chocolate left-over from another cake project to fill in some of the gaps in the cereal treats:

I attached the pieces of modeling chocolate meat with melted white chocolate applied with a pastry brush:

Here is the first boot after covering with the modeling chocolate pieces:

I wasn't totally happy with how it looked at this point, so out came the Everclear and food color for a paint job

Time for bed. I planned on completing the second boot the next day, and the actual cake the following day. Then I found out that my original plan for delivery wouldn't work as the person I planned on sending it with was leaving a day earlier. My brother said he had off Friday, so he could get it then, or on Saturday. I didn't think I could finish on Thursday night, but busted my butt to try. The second boot went a lot faster, as I knew what to do this time.

With the boots pretty much done, it was time for the cake. I had baked and orange-flavored cake in two 8" pans. I filled and frosted this with a white chocolate ganache, then covered with fondant.

I then moved into the living room, so I could use a image of the album cover on the computer as a reference as I am completely out of ink in my printer

I wasn't exactly sure how to get the feathery look in a short time- so I just started brushing different shades of pink over the cake and blending, sponging with some toilet paper.

The marble-y effect was very pretty I thought. After the cake was covered in pinks, I went over it with white to make some feather details:

Then I used black gel color to add the name and initial

Ok: boots-check; cake-check. I had planned on finishing the boots by wrapping with kitchen string. However, after tearing apart the kitchen, realized I didn't have any:( But, I did have a sorta, kinda, similar looking substitute: wrapped floral wire:

At this point I moved the boots and cake around my board, and decided I needed a bigger board. I cut a square of 1/2" foam core, and wrapped it with cake board foil, and trimmed it with pink ribbon. I positioned the boots and hammered bamboo skewers through them and into the board.

I trimmed the skewers and covered the tops with more modeling chocolate. Then I positioned the cake and secured it with a blob of ganache

I was surprised and happy I had gotten it finished, and called my brother and made plans that he'd come the next day when I got off work. I HATE leaving a cake mess before bed- but I was just dead tired and made an exception.

Checking my messages on break the next day, I had one from my brother saying his friend would pick it up Sat. morning as she'd be in the area anyway. Doh! I could've had an extra day. Oh well, I was relieved to have it done, and it made much more sense than him driving an hour+ each way to come get it.

I was happy with the cake, and think an actual cake of the meat boots and purse would make a cool cake if I need to do something for another Lady Gaga fan, especially if I had more time. I am not a Lady Gaga fan, and personally think the only statement her meat dress made was "hey look at me! look at me! I'm so desperate for attention I'm strapping steaks to my outfit and calling it art", but in photos it actually looks pretty with the vibrant reds and creamy whites.