Gobble, Gobble

Wow, has it really been over 3 months since I posted? Still working crazy amounts of overtime; I haven't even made a cake since Easter weekend:( Here is the the making of my dad's birthday cake from April though. My dad is an avid hunter and fisherman, so I decided to make him a wild turkey birthday cake (the animal, not the whiskey that is).

This was also my first attempt at a PVC structure for a cake. Here's the "skeleton"

A clse-up of the outlet cover I found to use as part of the structure- it is much cheaper than the heavier circular flanges you usually see used

If you look at the legs, you can see I used one heavy flange and one outlet cover. The "cake board" for the body is 1/2" foam core, and the tail is cardboard.

I covered the neck and formed the head with Rice cereal treats; which was a lot more difficult than I had expected, it kept falling off. I just kept squeezing and compacting it till it stuck (Choke that turkey!)

I used melted colored chocolate left over from other projects to glue the cereal mixture to the underside, again much harder than I had expected.

I used the melted white (or in this case, green) chocolate applied with a pastry brush, to smooth the shape using many layers.

Add some chocolate cake:)

Adding some details in modeling chocolate (more left-overs)

I covered the cake with ganache.

More cereal treats for the base ( I didn't cover as nothing going on the base was going to be eaten).

More melted chocolate to smooth out the underbelly

Cover with fondant (What a p.i.t.a.).

Airbrush!

I did learn turkey lingo in this project- the red bumps (modeling chocolate) are called caruncles,

and the part hanging over the beak is the snood- learn something new everyday.

Dad with cake

I decapitated the beast!

Jacks Big Music Show

First, I apologize for not posting sooner. I made this cake a few weeks ago and haven't had the time to write a post. For my boyfriend's niece's first birthday I was asked to do the cake, either Wonder Pets or Jack's Big Music Show (cue the sound of crickets)- to the Google machine!!! O.k., After a quick Google search Jack's Big Music Show is way cuter, so decision made. For clueless non-parents like myself here are the contenders

Allright, maybe it's a Guinea Pig, tomato, tomahto

See, way more adorable!

For the first step I went to the hardware store and had a piece of half inch thick MDF board cut

I was planning on covering with fondant, and didn't know if moisture would affect the board, so I covered it first with contact paper

 

Then I set up some templates and cake stand-ins to arrange my composition

I wanted the two characters in front to be free-standing, so I drilled holes where I planned on placing their legs

Next, I played unsafely with tools. The little saw we have in the house was too dull to cut the dowels, and the Sawz-All was at the boyfriends parents' house (It is, technically, theirs, but lives with us much of the time, just not when I need it:(), so I cut the dowels with the Dremel tool- which worked and smelled nice like burning wood, but probably not the best idea. Then I held the dowel sections with one hand, as I drilled guide holes in them- cuz I'm a loner Dottie, a rebel. Seriously, if anyone reads this blog for techniques- go out and get yourself a clamp for stuff like this

I used the drill to insert the screws through the bottom of the board, and then twisted them on. I had thought I would be able to use the drill instead of hand screwing, but it didn't want to work- perhaps because I got the hardwood dowels instead of the flimsy ones

Ta-da! If you look at the tops of the dowels you can see the evidence of burning from the Dremel

I cut out bases for the bodies from 1/2" foam core and attached with hot glue, since they wouldn't be supporting much weight

Next, covering the base. A real p.i.t.a. I wanted it to look like a wood-plank floor- but with the bright colors of the show. I marbled some green fondant with some white, cut into strips, and began attaching to the board using a little corn syrup. (note: don't toss leftover fondant, it will last for AGES in the fridge, and is great for covering bases)

I left a bare space where I would be placing the actual cake, so it would be set-in a little.

Next, I started working on the details using modeling chocolate

For the drum kit I started with RKT molded in tuna cans, then wrapped in modeling chocolate

I used gel paste colors mixed with Everclear to paint

I also made the doggie drummer out of RKT covered in modeling chocolate

The drumsticks are spaghetti pieces with a modeling chocolate ball on top

Next on to the guitarist and bassist (Sorry, never found out the names, though I'd assume the dog with the guitar is Jack)
I started by covering the dowels with the modeling chocolate

The shoes might just be my favorite part:)

For the actual cake I made a board of 1/2" foamcore, as I knew I would want to use a skewer to anchor the doggie drummer and needed a material that was conducive to stabbing

Cover with white chocolate ganache

While that set up, I worked on the other two figures. I baked their bodies in large skinny muffin pans and a mini wonder-mold pan

These were covered in chocolate gnanache and then modeling chocolate

After the ganache set on the cake, I covered it with fondant and painted it

Coming together

I love how the drummer turned out, but the other two disappointed me a bit. I think my problem was just working form the 2 pictures I had- I saw too late that in side views they had quite the protruding schnozzes, which I couldn't see from the front-views and probably affected how the end product turned out. It was fun playing (albeit, inappropriately) with some power tools- can't wait to tackle a PVC structured cake if I ever get a minute of free-caking time:(