Sunday, March 18, 2018

Little Tug Boat Cake that Sank

This was a tough and frustrating cake to make, and I'm not sure where I went wrong.  When I asked the recipient how he liked the cake the most he could muster was a lukewarm - It tasted good.


Maybe it was the tires on the side of the boat that turned him off?  (They do look more like Life Savers than tires.)  Or maybe it was because I called it a Tug Boat when it was actually a Offshore Transport Boat?  I thought it came out okay, but the birthday boy definitely wasn't impressed.  Oh well, at least he liked the taste.

The cake started with a Styrofoam base covered in red Fondarific fondant.  In the background you can kinda see a photo of what the cake was modeled from.


Next I cut the boat shape from a half-sheet of my white chocolate almond cake.


I filled, stacked, and crumb coated the cake and then covered the side in black Fondarific fondant.  I typically use Mona Lisa fondant to cover my cakes, but I had this pre-colored black fondant on hand so I decided to use it instead.


The decking on the boat cake came next.  I colored some Mona Lisa fondant using Wilton Buttercup Yellow food color gel and then marbled it with some Wilton Brown.


I rolled the fondant out thin, and press a "wood" impression mat into the surface of the fondant.  Narrow 1/2" strips were cut out and then placed on the top of the crumb coated cake.


I added some white stripes on the side, and white accents on the top of the decking.


Next came the crew house on top.


And the railings made from dry spaghetti covered in fondant.


View from the top...


And a view of the other side.  On the back is a plaque that reads "El Capitan".


So where did I go wrong?  My crew house came out a little lumpy, and the tires look like Life Savers more than tires, but was that enough to sink this ship?  Constructive criticism please.  I have a fire engine cake coming up in a few weeks, and I hope that one comes together better than this one.


 Happy Decorating,

Carol


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Supply List: 

Mona Lisa White Fondant
Fondarific Red Fondant
Fondarific Black Fondant
Wilton Buttercup Yellow gel food color
Wood Impression Mat
Wilton Ribbon Cutter Set


5 comments:

  1. Stumbled across your blog today. Great stuff. If I had any constructive criticism of this cake I would give it, but I think it looks really good!

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  2. The execution actaully looks pretty good, but you just got all the ship's proportions incorrect. It would be like somebody asking for a pickup truck cake and you put the bed in front of the cab then added a ferrari logo. All the things exist, but it matters in what relation to each other. His reaction was lukewarm because he was being nice. You had a picture to work from, but probably deviated more than he wanted. Hope it isn't discouraging, but gives you the opportunity to improve upon your talents.

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