Revealed: Project Ziggurat

I hear you out there.  Yes, I know you've been checking in to see if I've published the pictures of Project Ziggurat. 

Well, your faithfulness is now rewarded.  I present to you, with no small amount of pride, Project Ziggurat (or: The Cake that Ate a Blog).

Aside from a little cardboard and a few wooden dowels, this thing is completely edible.  It took 60 cups of rice cereal...8 bags of marshmallows...5 pounds of fondant...2 chocolate cakes...an entire batch of buttercream icing...a vat of royal icing...and a great deal of supporting infrastructure. 

The top tier, as well as the bottom two tiers, are made entirely out of cereal treat.  He wanted an epic cake, but was only feeding a handful.  So, we went the fake-cake route, and only the 8" and 6" tiers are delicious chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.
I had ordered a brick texture mat to make the fondant work easier.  But, alas, the mail was slow, so all those bricks are done by hand.

Then the piping...oh my goodness...the piping.  Let's hope I ge this right...

First we have Arabic:

Then Hebrew:

Next is Paleo-Hebrew or Proto-Canaanite:

Then Middle Egyptian (which was almost tossed for a few choice words Amy had to describe just what she thought of near eastern languages as her hand was cramping up in protest):

And finally, Akkadian or Neo-Assyrian Cuneiform:

And what does it all say? 

Josh is 33. 

Actually, the part I've shown you here probably just says "Josh is..." The text wraps around the three sides not bearing the stairs.  Needless to say, I'm happy to write in modern English, without the need to draw birds, triangles or other pictures to get my point across.  Heaven help me if we are ever forced to learn Chinese. 

But, truly, my brother Josh is celebrating 33 years, and this was his choice for his party this year.  I hope it makes the trip up to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in one piece, where it can be enjoyed by his Biblical Archaelological and Near-Eastern Linguist type friends.  Yes, he really is that smart:).

Happy Birthday, Josh!  I love you dearly, as you can tell by the herculean effort I made for your cake.  I hope you and your friends enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the challenge of making it!

The Fender Stratocaster - - of Cake

Once again, I find myself at the end of a huge project with very few words...so I'll share with you the pictures of one of the best cakes I've created to date.

Here's the guitar-lover's rock-star cake.  The Fender Stratocaster, a la Bake Lore, 100% hand crafted from the tone knobs to the pickups and tuners:

That's my model - my old strat from college, and a great instrument!

My Dad, the best guitar player I know, and I know quite a few.
I was pretty much in cake heaven when he was so happy with the final product.

So that's it!  The whole thing is made out of gumpaste, cereal treat, fondant - and of course, cake and butter cream.  There are only small bits of cardboard and floral wire holding things in place, but otherwise, you could eat the whole thing! 

Happy Birthday to one very lucky little boy!

It's Training Season...So They Tell Me...

I'm in the middle of a number of cake projects - and even one enormous cookie project!  And I can't wait to share those with you. 

But until I am finished, I wanted to show you a Bake Lore archive cake - in the spirit of all the pro football training camps going on across the country.

I am no football fan, but I do make a darn good football cake.  If you are a Colts fan, my apologies, or Bears or Green Bay or whatever - - this is a cake I made for a Steelers fan.  I hope you enjoy!

Logo is in gum paste with piped royal icing

Oh yes...that's the Terrible Towel...in gum paste, of course!

This one was made up of:
10" tier: Chocolate cake, vanilla butter cream
6" tier: White cake, vanilla butter cream
Fondant icing, royal icing piping and gumpaste cut outs

Baby Smash!

I have mixed feelings about this project.

I've never had anyone ask me to make cakes, especially fondant covered cakes, for the sole purpose of being smashed by a one-year-old.  But I don't ask questions.  When the opportunity arises to make cake, I just take it.

One to smash for the party, and
One to smash for the camera!

Still...I can't believe these cakes aren't going to be eaten.  They're the real deal, with hand made butter cream and everything. 

See?  Making an effort to take pictures that
don't have piping bags and powdered sugar
in the background.  Progress, people!

Each cake is 4", round
White cake, vanilla butter cream and fondant

 I'm hoping the baby-girl who gets to destroy these little works of art gets a fistful or two into her mouth.  And then maybe next year she'll be able to ask for a Cake Lore cake by name:). 

So dang cute.  Somebody ought to order some that will get eaten! 

Keep Calm and Carry On

On the cusp of a new year, I'm looking back at my 2010 cake file.  It was a good year for the butter industry, thanks mostly to moi. 

I'm posting a fun cake today, because I need to keep optimistic about the future - for a number of reasons.  So here's a look at a baby cake I did for a dear friend.  Babies are the very definition of optimism, and thus I give you the adorable, two-tiered, baby boy cake.

10" and 6" tiers, yellow cake, chocolate buttercream,
covered in marshmallow fondant

Here's a close up for you:

Gum paste figures

Ah!  Babies!  Praise God for their little chubby cheeks and the hope they inspire for the future.  Happy New Year, dear readers. 

As they used to say in England..."Keep Calm and Carry On!"

Greetings, cake lovers!  It's blog time. 

I may be creating a lot of great new source material for Cake Wrecks, but it's a chance I'm going to have to take.  I've decided I'm never going to transform my love of cake - that is, truly flavorful, beautiful cake - into more than a hobby, unless I have to perform on a regular basis.  So, here I will publish my attempts to be a self-made pastry artist - pictures, horror stories, woe and success. 

This may be the worst idea I've ever had, or it could be just what I need to get really good at something I love doing.  My goal is to post a cake once a week.  It may be one from the files, or it may be the latest creation.

Here's a picture of the cake that started it all, my son's first birthday cake.  I have to credit my brother, Josh for the fondant elephant.  He needed a project that day too!

These were inspired by Mega Blocks and Leggos.

Not bad for a first try...but yeah, it's a little rough.  I've gotten a little better at the whole fondant thing. Here's Andrew's 2nd birthday cake...with a whole bunch of gum paste work.

Super Why! and the Super Duper Computer

 So there you go.  Thanks to my son, I found something I love to do and a great creative outlet.  Tune in next week for another cake creation.

Thanks for visiting Cake Lore!