My 2012 Threadcake : "We're Not Savages"

Ahhh, yes. The time has finally come to reveal my Threadcake! I actually made this cake about two weeks ago, but my inner-procrastinator decided to submit my entry for the contest on the very last day of submission! My inner perfectionist is also stretching it out later because I have to find the right words to put in my description and the right photos to put in. Ack! I took a break to blog since I was already on the computer.

Let's see... where to start with this one... Ah! Well, I'll start with the T-shirt design from Threadless.

Courtesy of Threadless.com

The shirt was to be a birthday gift of my good friend Joe, so I wanted to make a matching cake. The problem was I had never read Lord of the Flies, which is what this design is based on. I got into reading the book, which was quite riveting and entertaining. I wanted to make the cake from scratch, so I found a recipe here that was originally adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe. I added a bit more than a tablespoon of almond emulsion to each batch to make it tastier.

The cakes came out a bit denser than I thought, like a pound cake. But this ended up working out because I didn't want to use any inedible supports (part of the rules). I mixed up some caramel icing into my vanilla buttercream (love that flavor combo, as all of you may already know).

I filled and stacked my layers with the caramel buttercream then carved a skull shape out of cake.

I covered the cake in cream-colored fondant on the front for the skull and pink in the back because the mountain was made of pink rock in the novel. This part actually made the cake look like Donkey Kong, so I didn't bother taking a picture of it at this point!

I got to work on the figures, making Piggy, Ralph, and others. I must admit that it was the first time I actually sculpted little faces and bodies, so I was worried about how they would look. But I think they turned out great! The only support I used was uncooked thin spaghetti (glad I had that lingering in my cupboards!)

Next I made the bodies and the little details like the teddy bear and the infamous conch...

Next, I placed the figures on the cake, using more uncooked pasta.

I filled in the spaces with trees and bushes and covered the board with edible sand (brown and white sugar mixed).

Some detail shots...

And the cake was a hit at the birthday dinner! Joe loved it!

Happy birthday, Joe!

The link to my official Threadcake 2012 entry is here! :)

Sushi Boat Cake

Hello, again! I am so excited to say that I am going on a mini vacation with my beloved, and it starts tomorrow afternoon! And I'm glad that I was able to finish my entry into another cake contest as well. This one was The Great Cake Contest sponsored by Disney Family Fun. I chose the "faux food" category and made a sushi boat cake! I started with yellow cake baked in a 13 x9 pan then cut it lengthwise and stacked the halves on top of each other. Then I carved the cake into a boat shape.

I carved out the middle then crumb-coated it...

Then covered in fondant...

Then I scored "boards" on the outside and inside of the boat and scratched wood-grain into it.

I mixed up some brown dye and some yellow dye into vanilla flavor (vodka works too!) and brushed it on.

It looks like wood now!

Then came the fun part-- the sushi! I mixed up some colored fondant that matched raw tuna and salmon. I also mixed up some orange and greens (carrots, cucumbers, wasabi) and made little fondant sushi rolls the way I would make regular sushi. For my "veggie roll," I rolled out logs of light green and orange. Then I bundled them together and rolled a thick layer of white over them (the "rice"). Then I rolled a thin layer of black over the whole roll (my "dried seaweed"). I cut the ends off then cut little slices with my X-acto knife. The little sashimi were easier, and I even dipped some rolls into orange nonpareil sprinkles (the "salmon "roe). Here are some details of the rolls...

A little pink petal dust for the yellowtail sashimi

I textured the outsides with crumpled foil!

My little hand rolls at the front of the boat :)

And, of course, I can't forget the pickled ginger and wasabi!

My finishing touches were a fortune cookie, chopsticks, and a little bowl of "soy sauce" (piping gel dyed brown and thinned out with a little water).

And here it is all put together. :)

I must say, I am very happy with how it came out! I won't find out the results of the contest until the end of next month-- fingers crossed til then!

And if you have any further questions about any of the rolls I made or techniques I used, feel free to comment or email! [mysweetdiversion@hotmail.com]

My Jelly Belly Cupcake Challenge Entry!

 I've been hard at work the past couple of days making an epic entry for the Jelly Belly Cupcake Challenge. I have finally completed it with twelve hours to spare (hey, I'm a recovering procrastinator), and I am totally excited about it! I wanted to originally make a cupcake rendition of Starry Night, but it had already been submitted, so I went for my second favorite painting, Edvard Munch's The Scream. I started by drawing a 5x7 grid on a print-out of the painting, then I arranged 35 cupcakes in the same grid pattern.

Then I colored some frosting peach and black then set to frosting the cupcakes using those base colors. Then I chopped up a bunch of Jelly beans, starting with black licorice flavor.

Then, I set to work placing the chopped jelly beans onto the cupcakes, making sure to follow the grid.

I wanted to make the figure's face and hands, as well as the boardwalk and shore in the background out of fondant. It allowed me to give them a more painterly look.

Many many layers of food coloring!

A few buttercream accents and some filler jelly beans later, it all came together. And voila!

My official entry into the contest! I love how it turned out! Here's a close-up of the screaming figure.