Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The craziest cake YOU've ever done!

Was it crazy big? 
Was it crazy complicated?
Or was it just crazy in nature? 


This project gave me more than one sleepless night last week. I learned about the project 3 weeks ago and it has been on my mind ever since. Although I was very nervous about making it and couldn't sleep the night before, when I finally started working on it I was totally into it and didn't let the pressure get into me. Well, of course I felt drained once I was finished, but I was happy that it worked out the way I imagined it and that it served it's purpose as intended ( not to mention it survived a night in the cooler too! I had a lump in my throat next morning when I went to check on it.

Why it was "the craziest cake" I've ever done?
Well, first of all it was the biggest cake I've ever worked on. It was a full sheet with a custom made board ( you'll see why) and a lot of details on it. 
The customer ordered it for her daughter, who was graduating from high school and going to RPI. At first I thought- how hard can it be...but then I talked to the customer and what she had in mind blew me away. She brought a picture of her daughter pole vaulting and she asked if we can recreate the scene with her daughter...in the air.
Now that was a challenge. 
First of all, the cake was big hence the human figure was going to be big too. So how was I supposed to make it stay in the air?!
And of course I wanted to make the figure stay in the air exactly as it was on the picture, I didn't want to use anything like thread or cord to support it, so it was that much more difficult. 
But, thanks to my awesome bosses and great team at Coccadotts, the cake turned out awesome. 

There were a couple of options how to make this cake but the one I suggested was to use gravity as a way of supporting the fondant body in the air. I needed a sturdy metal wire that will be able to support the weight and the idea was to attach that wire to the board  before we add the cake on top. After the wire was attached, the cake was constructed around it and I started building up  the details on top of it. 
Pole Vaulting cake01

The red part was constructed of Rice Krispies treats and covered in fondant. The metal construction was made of sugar floral wire and tape, then I airbrushed and painted on top of the tape.  The part that made me most nervous was that I had to construct the body right on the cake...in the air. I couldn't have anything made beforehand, which added to the pressure of making it on time. After the cake was in place and airbrushed I started building the skeleton of the body of different types of sugar floral wire.  It took a while...
Pole Vaulting cake02
I knew that if I make the figure beforehand and then try to hang it on the pole, there was no way it will stay up, because it will be too heavy. That's why I made it...hollow, as I simply covered the wire "skeleton". The most difficult part was definitely the head, because I have never made a hollow fondant head with facial features before. Then getting it on the wired "skull" was even more tricky, because I wanted to use enough tylose so it can dry up pretty quick and stay in place. On the other hand if the tylose was too much, the head would probably break if I tried to put it on the wire skull.
 Pole Vaulting cake07

The customer wanted all the details exactly as you see them on the cake- the writing, colors, everything.  I had the ambition to "dress" her "daughter's" fondant body in the same clothes as in the picture and that worked perfect too. I even made the sneakers the same.
Pole Vaulting cake04

As you can see, she is really "in the air" and not supported by anything other than her own "hands".
 Pole Vaulting cake06

Eventually everything worked out and I had the body in the air. Then I had tons of grass to make with buttercream icing. By the time I was finished, I was covered in green buttercream up to my elbows. LoL.

Pole Vaulting cake03

   Pole Vaulting cake10
So, tell me what cake challenges you've been taking up lately? 


  1. Amazing. So inspirational, in fact it is great to know that it "can be done" even if a bunch of problems arise. Awesome cake and great work.

  2. SO SO SO AMAZING!!!!! Wow!!!! You have done an amazing job.

  3. Ани,
    благодаря ти за показаното и разказаното. Много добре си се справила, това с гравитацията е супер гадно нещо. Всеки път трябва да се бориш с нея,но ти си успяла страхотно. Поздрави :)

  4. Ани, грандиозен замъсъл и още по-грандиозно изпълнение!!!
    Нямам думи - разкошна е - златни ти ръцете!

    Най-сърдечни поздрави от слънчев Кипър!

  5. This is insane!!!! wow!


Popular Posts

Related Posts with Thumbnails