Susan's Place Transgender Resources

General Discussions => Hobbies => Cooking => Topic started by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 06:34:23 AM

Title: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 06:34:23 AM
I made the topper for it. I'm taking a bit of a risk posting it here - since I made it and it's pretty unique. My daughters' birthday party is tomorrow...

My wife and I have discovered that it's much less effort for me to make something like this and put it on a standard sheet cake, than to make the whole cake. Plus, nobody eats fondant.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FRyMRCUz.jpg&hash=8b503c08708bc54d760aa88c99d59ee488965c72)


I've made others, too... I'll post them when I find the pictures.
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: SaveMeJeebus on August 24, 2013, 06:36:45 AM
Impressive and cute. I hope your daughter has a magical birthday tomorrow! :]
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 06:44:21 AM
Lightning McQueen for my son's 3rd birthday
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fvm6FeTh.jpg&hash=830963fb055cea0a580bc1b2e02625d4ea8c1725)

Pikachu for my son's 7th
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FhJBsCMs.jpg&hash=7a514d83b79e3adfdeb31499e72181667f91a34e)
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 06:46:29 AM
Quote from: SaveMeJeebus on August 24, 2013, 06:36:45 AM
Impressive and cute. I hope your daughter has a magical birthday tomorrow! :]

Thanks! I hope all the *other* issues don't interfere with it!! It's not my party ;)

~~
One thing I notice with these cakes... is how each successive cake takes less time. It isn't that it's getting easier (well... not completely) - I have simplified over the years. (And I don't get to do this for every party - wish I could... wish I had time).
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: SaveMeJeebus on August 24, 2013, 06:52:34 AM
Quote from: kabit on August 24, 2013, 06:44:21 AM
Lightning McQueen for my son's 3rd birthday
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fvm6FeTh.jpg&hash=830963fb055cea0a580bc1b2e02625d4ea8c1725)

Pikachu for my son's 7th
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FhJBsCMs.jpg&hash=7a514d83b79e3adfdeb31499e72181667f91a34e)

I am in awe. I want cool cakes for my birthday! I had Toy Story the other year  ::),  brought from the supermarket.
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 07:14:33 AM
Quote from: SaveMeJeebus on August 24, 2013, 06:52:34 AM
I am in awe. I want cool cakes for my birthday! I had Toy Story the other year  ::),  brought from the supermarket.

Thanks a lot! Look at that - pikachu and lightning mcqueen... and people think I'm girly. ;) My kids love the cakes... they're an exciting part of the birthday. I'm pretty lax on non-food parts of the party... my wife is much better there (activities, favors, etc). (This isn't the place for it, but there's lots of flux there -- who knows how these parties will happen next year).

The car literally took about 40 hours (including planning, etc) so you can see why I've only made one that complex. I also didn't have any other kids at that point.

The toppers take about 2 hours... so not bad at all.

I'm not a graphic artist... these are engineered cakes (and 2D is MUCH easier than 3D). I also can't do people (at least... I don't think so. Non-human cartoon characters are much less expressive than even human ones).
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: DriftingCrow on August 24, 2013, 07:51:18 AM
Wow those are all really cute!
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: SaveMeJeebus on August 24, 2013, 01:48:40 PM
Quote from: kabit on August 24, 2013, 07:14:33 AM
Thanks a lot! Look at that - pikachu and lightning mcqueen... and people think I'm girly. ;) My kids love the cakes... they're an exciting part of the birthday. I'm pretty lax on non-food parts of the party... my wife is much better there (activities, favors, etc). (This isn't the place for it, but there's lots of flux there -- who knows how these parties will happen next year).

The car literally took about 40 hours (including planning, etc) so you can see why I've only made one that complex. I also didn't have any other kids at that point.

The toppers take about 2 hours... so not bad at all.

I'm not a graphic artist... these are engineered cakes (and 2D is MUCH easier than 3D). I also can't do people (at least... I don't think so. Non-human cartoon characters are much less expressive than even human ones).

You would have fooled me being a graphic artist :P. It looks as if you do this for a living  :laugh:. I fancy cake now :3
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 24, 2013, 07:02:25 PM
Thank you!! I wish I could do something like this for a living. If I were FAAB I wonder if I'd have gone to culinary instead of engineering? (NOT that girls can't be engineers!!) Still... I like my job.

Well... the cake is as exciting as BJs gets (talking about the store, of course)... it's easier to top a plain cake with something cool.

My standard homemade cake is Martha's white wedding chiffon. I was going to make a chocolate chiffon (KAF's recipe (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chiffon-cake-recipe)) but time is lacking and stress is high right now. This birthday almost didn't happen :(
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: SaveMeJeebus on August 25, 2013, 05:31:06 AM
Quote from: kabit on August 24, 2013, 07:02:25 PM
Thank you!! I wish I could do something like this for a living. If I were FAAB I wonder if I'd have gone to culinary instead of engineering? (NOT that girls can't be engineers!!) Still... I like my job.

Well... the cake is as exciting as BJs gets (talking about the store, of course)... it's easier to top a plain cake with something cool.

My standard homemade cake is Martha's white wedding chiffon. I was going to make a chocolate chiffon (KAF's recipe (http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/chiffon-cake-recipe)) but time is lacking and stress is high right now. This birthday almost didn't happen :(

It is good to know you like your job  :laugh:.

I am not particularly fond of chocolate cake. I like jam and butter icing in the middle, with icing on top. I like raisins and cherries too, but they are not usually mixed with jam and butter icing.

I hope your daughter has a lovely day. Try to relax yourself  :laugh:.
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 28, 2013, 02:44:53 AM
I wanted to also do My Melody :)

I'm not going to say it's easy - but it is doable... basically this is how I do it. I get fondant (the flower is gum paste) and make the base color I need (in this case - easy, it's white). I trace out (with a knife) the entire picture in that color.
Then I take the individual elements (ukulele, shirt, & skirt) and trace them out. I make small cuts through the paper and eyeball the rest. The skirt I didn't trace. I just made a bunch of individual leaf fronds and placed them on the base layer.

These get pasted in order with a special glue - meringue powder and water. Just water also works... the glue is also shiny when dry, so at the end I use it everywhere.

The smaller elements are easy, but hard to place (and hard to move... I broke 2-3 whiskers - should have put them on late when she went on the cake).

The flower was more difficult. I traced it out from the picture, then I just did what I felt was "right" - made the cuts toward the center to make petals, shaped it. This was all with the flower around a pencil. Then the stamen I inserted into the pencil hole.

So... 2D is so much easier :D the 3D cake I made took far too long.

It's a lot of work, but it's something special I do for some birthdays.

Here's the birdday cake I made for my son's 8th:
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FgvFxo7F.jpg&hash=38d0050b2828c63ac1e2a831649d2ef37d532aec)

It was a lot more work because it's 3D. The walls are brownies.
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: Jenny07 on August 28, 2013, 04:01:02 AM
From the late 40's
:-\

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2F2%2F2f%2FAdmiral_Blandy_Mushroom_Cloud_Cake.jpg&hash=de814a85e2b2a8b4b623f48a965df7d234171b03)
Title: Re: I made a cake topper.
Post by: KabitTarah on August 28, 2013, 04:11:50 AM
Quote from: Glitterfly on August 28, 2013, 04:04:43 AM
xD sad history but funny picture!

Without knowing what it is (from the link you had posted before)... it looks like a tree. :D