Dr Who's Bad Wolf Tardis Cake

Don't you just love Dr. Who's Tardis?  Especially when it is edible...

And covered in Rose Tyler's "Bad Wolf" graffiti...

I spent a lot of my youth watching Dr. Who (Tom Baker was my favorite), but now I spend most of my free time making cakes that look like my childhood obsessions.  Strange how life works.

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The construction of this Tardis began with a red velvet cake.  I cut two 8" cake into into 4x4 pieces - 8 pieces in all.  To cut my frozen cakes I use this huge Farberware knife.  I have tried lots of cake cutting knives and this hulking baby is the best.  It can cut through frozen cakes like a hot knife through butter.

Once cut, I stacked the pieces to make the cake 7 inches high. (I used 6 of the 4x4 squares.)

For the cake drum, I covered it with fondant and painted on some splotches of blue and green food color mixed with a little vodka.  Then I painted the rest in black.  I added some dabs of white gel food color (to represent the stars) and then pulled a tooth pick through it to make it look like the stars were moving by in a blur of motion. 

Once the cake drum was dry and the crumb coated cake chilled, I positioned the cake near the edge of the drum.  I used bamboo skewers to hold the tower in place because the cake was a little wobbly and leaning.  Sadly it looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I'm not quite sure what happened.

Once the cake was in place, the real decorating began.  I found a graphic for the Tardis so I used that as a templet.  I cut out a 4x7 inch piece of fondant tinted Tardis blue (Wilton's sky blue mixed with a little violet), and I used the templet to score lines where the windows and doors of the police box were located.

I used a long super slicer blade to make some horizontal impressions above the panels.

Then I used a square cookie cutter to make the windows/panels.  For the blue panels I didn't cut all the way through.  I pushed the cookie cutter in just enough to make the lines.  For the "windows" at the top I did cut them out completely because they would later be filled with yellow pieces.

Once all the markings were complete, I gently picked up the 4x7 rectangles and placed them on the sides of the cake.  Sadly the top section where the window were cut out did stretch a bit.  In hindsight I should have put a second piece of 4x7 fondant behind the decorated 4x7 to give it more stability.  I also should have put the yellow windows into position before I put the panel on the cake.  Oh well, live and learn.

For the exposed corners I cut some narrow strips and made it look like wood trim.

For the base of the Tardis I used my trusty ACE Food Safe Extruder and squeezed out some baseboard looking pieces.

I made 45 degree cuts and mitered the base board strips together.

I covered the top with a 4x4 square on fondant and cut some thick rectangles to form the area where the "Police Box" signs would be placed.

Then I formed the stair-stepped roof of the Tardis by placing square fondant cut-outs one on top of the other.  I was running low on my blue fondant so I had to cut out the center to conserve fondant.

To keep the fondant above from sinking into the hole, I cut a square of stiff cardboard that was slightly larger than the hole.

I used smaller and smaller cookie cutters as I moved higher.

Next I cut out the yellow windows, and used thin ropes of blue fondant to form the window panes.

Then I placed the windows panes in the opening.  I hindsight I should have placed the windows panes in the openings before I put the panels on the cake because the openings were pulled out of shape when I picked up the panels and placed them on the cake.  Next time I will put everything together before I try and pick it up.

I made a light for the top of the Tardis by rolling out some yellow fondant and adding some of the thin ropes of blue fondant to make it look like a cage.

For the "Police Box" signs I decided to take a short cut and use a printed image instead of trying to hand letter the signs.  I didn't want to place the paper signs directly on the fondant (the fondant might make the paper damp and cause the ink to run), so I attached the paper to some gumpaste instead.

To give the Tardis and aged/weathered look, I dusted it with some black powdered food color.

The final step was the lettering.  I used my FMM Funky Lowercase Tappit alphabet cutter to form the Bad Wolf graffiti on the side of the Tardis, and the Upper Case Tappit to form the happy birthday message on the cake drum.

So this is the end of my first Tardis Cake.  In May I need to make another Tardis, which will be larger and more elaborate, so this was a good practice cake.

Happy Decorating,

Carol



Supply List: 

Farberware Knife
Mona Lisa Fondant
Wilton's Sky Blue and Violet gel food color
Cake Boss Decorating Tools
ACE Food Safe Extruder
12" Cake Drum
Razor Slicer
Square Cookie Cutter Set
Black Edible Powdered Food Color
FMM Funky Lower Case Tappit Alphabet Cutter
FMM Funky Tappit Upper Case Alphabet Cutter

Vegetable Garden Cake

A friend a work asked for a Vegetable Garden Cake for her parent's 50 Wedding Anniversary.  Here is the top of the cake.  For a person that doesn't like vegetables (me), I think they came out pretty tasty looking.

So how did I make these cuties?

The cauliflower was the first.  With a white ball of gum paste I made some marks with a bent paper clip and a large hat pin.

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Then I used a flower cutter / veiner combo to make the leaves.  At first I tried it with all five petals together, but that didn't look good so I cut off two of the petals and make two sets giving me a total of six leaves around the cauliflower head.

Lettuce was the same as the cauliflower., but with a smaller center.  In hindsight I should have put a few marks on the center to make it look more like a cluster of leaves.

Carrots were just a cone shaped wad of orange with a tuff of green sprigs on the top.  I made a hole at the top of the carrot and inserted the rolled up greenery.

I also put some marks on the carrot body using some gumpaste decorating tools just to give it some interest.

Corn was next.  Making the individual kernels of corn on the cob was super easy.  I rolled out a flat piece of yellow gum paste, and used a long narrow slicer (looks like a super long razor blade) to make indentations in the gum paste.  I didn't cut through the gum paste.  I just pressed enough to make a visible line.

Make the marks in both directions to give you tiny little cubes.  Cut a rectangle of the appropriate size for you corn and roll it up in a cylinder shape.  I cut out a piece of greenery for the tip of the corn cob, and textured the greenery with my handy veining wand.

Radishes were last.  I made a little ball of red gum paste and a smaller ball of white.

I pressed the balls together and then thinned out the white part into a narrow tip.

The greenery is just a free formed piece of green gumpaste that I made some "vein" impression on...

And then I wadded it up and stuck it into a hole I made on top of the radish.

As a final step I twisted the white tip of the radish into a little curl.

So here are all the veggies arranged on top of their bed of soil (pulverized Oreo cookies).  For the signs behind the row of veggies I cut out a thick square of gum paste and stuck in a tooth pick.  I printed out tiny pictures of the veggies and glued them to the dried gum paste signs.  I then wrote the name of the veggie on the sign with a black marker.  The border of the vegetable patch is made with my ACE Food Safe Extruder.

The cake itself is iced with a ombre of green, blue, and white.  After applying the bands of color I just  gently scraped it off the excess using a large bench scraper.  The act of scraping blends the colors together and gives the ombre effect.

Then I made some fencing out of white Mona Lisa Fondant.  I rolled out the fondant and then textured it using a wood grain impression mat.  I cut strips using a Wilton strip cutter, then I cut the picket top of the fence board using the pointed end of a heart cutter.  It is not shown here, but I also dusted the fondant boards with edible brown powdered food color to give it a weathered look and to make the wood grain stand out more.

I arranged the vertical fence boards around the cake, and then I placed the cross boards in a wonky alignment.

Final touches on the cake were a basket to hold the ears of corn, a pair of gloves, a rake and shovel, and some flowers growing up the fence.  I also make a plaque to announce the 50 years that the LaClair couple were celebrating.  I hope they like it!

Happy Decorating,

Carol



Supply List: 

Mona Lisa Fondant
ACE Food Safe Extruder
14" Cake Drum
Flower Cutter / Veiner Combo
Gumpaste Decorating Tools
Razor Slicer
Veining Wand
Large Bench Scraper
wood grain impression mat
Wilton strip cutter
heart cutter
edible brown powdered food color
Lace Impression Mat (used on the fondant covering the cake drums)
Plaque Cutter

Unicorn Cakes are still the Thing in 2018

At the end of 2018, Unicorn Cakes are still all the rage.  They were the "Thing" this year.  But try as might, my unicorn cakes never look quite right.  At first glance they look easy enough to make, but a lot of things can throw off the look. 

Here are a few of my latest attempts....

On this cake the horn wasn't big enough, and the mane looked a little flat.  But in my defense I ran out of icing and didn't have enough powdered sugar to make more.  On a positive note I did like how the little "Birthday Girl" cake turned out.  Nothing is more precious than a miniature unicorn cake.

Here is another unicorn cake; this one using a tri-colored rosettes.  On this cake the eyes were a little too close together, but I didn't want to pull them off and risk messing up the buttercream.  I also had a time making the tri-colored rosettes.  I tried using the Wilton Color Swirl decorating tip, but that was a flop.  That was a waste of $10.

I also "tried" making a unicorn out of polymer clay.  I'm not very good at sculpting, but my work is good enough to make a five year old happy.

So this closes out 2018, and guess what?  I have another request for a unicorn cake.  But this next one will be a DRUNK unicorn cake.  That one should be fun.

Happy Decorating,

Carol