The Pissed-Off Leaf Beetle Cake

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OMG - That cake is gross!!!

That is one pissed-off looking bug!

I'm not eating that!


So how should I respond when family members reacted this way to my latest cake?  My sweet, innocent little Iridescent Leaf Beetle cake?

My nephew wanted a bug cake for his girl friend's 29th birthday party.  That may seem like a strange request, but Kristen is big into bugs.  And not cute, cuddly bugs.  She likes her bugs, big, bad, and lethal.  She is going to school to be a vet, but she should be an Entomologist instead.

Here is the cake that got such horrified reactions....

Kind of creepy looking isn't it???

The real-life beetle actually has all those stripes of bright, neon colors, and strangely it is kind of pretty.  They even make earrings out of the iridescent shells.  So where did my cake go wrong??  (Please no cake wreak jokes.)   Maybe I added too many black accents?  Or is it the mouth?  The mouth is a little wide.  This was my first attempt at painting a cake, so it didn't come out exactly like I envisioned.  Sadly, none of my cakes ever come out like I envision. 

But in the end even the squeamish, bug-haters ate the cake. Chocolate on chocolate with chocolate sprinkles - what isn't there to love?

So how did it come together?  The carving of the cake was pretty painless.  I used 4 - 9" round cakes.  I had to piece some of the sections together, so I used lots and lots of chocolate icing to keep everything together.

Fondant went on next.  Via Roma Bakery fondant I think.  I also made little pin prick over the entire body because that is what the "real" bug looked like.

And then I started painting... and painting... and painting...  I used the AmeriColor Electric Color Set, and believe me those colors were electric.

The legs of the beetle were my favorite part of the cake.  They came out pretty nice if I do say so myself.   I made them out of Wilton gum paste, and they were surprisingly easy to form.  It only took about 2 hours to finish all 8 pieces.  I really felt bad when I threw them away.

So in the end it was a successful cake.  I may not have gotten the reaction I had hoped, but at least everyone loved the taste.

Happy Decorating,

Carol