3D Finalist
Self Portrait
by Deborah Ray @cakeamonga · submitted Aug 16, 2011 · 2011 contest
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Description
Say hello to Eyelean 2.0. She's version 2 because the process for this entry started 2 weeks ago or so with my first attempt. I'm new to cake decorating but I wanted to enter the contest because it sounded fun, challenging & I knew I could learn a thing or 2 & get much needed experience. Boy did I!!! So I chose Self portrait tshirt design because I thought it would be cute to do & a balance of what I could do & what would challenge me. The snail/monster spoke to me in some way...I like the sweetness & the oddness of her, so I decided she must be made of pink lemonade cake with pink lemonade buttercream icing. I made a standard white cake but I added pink lemonade drink mix & lemon extract for flavor. I colored it Wilton rose. I used a standard vanilla BC recipe but I again added pink lemonade drink mix, lemon extract & Wilton rose color. I used prepared fondant that I colored myself as well as prepared gum paste.
I did really well on my first attempt except that I made her eyes way too heavy & used fondant mixed with tylose powder for the eye structure. the cake was perfect until I put the eyes in. It was such a disaster that my friend named her Eyelean/Eileen. This made me laugh after I initially cried due to all of that time spent on the cake to not have it be good enough to enter. So I decided after much deliberation that if I could make the eyes lighter & stronger, I would attempt the cake again.
So another friend casually said "why not use marshmallows for the eyeballs?". I thought this was good, so I covered large marshmallows with gum paste, let them dry a while & then I made the rest of the eye structure out of gum paste instead of fondant w/tylose. When they dried, they did seem stronger & lighter, so here's Eyelean v.2.
So if you count both cakes it probably took me about 35 hours, but for each one probably about 17. I need to learn to keep better track.
My first picture (not the primary one) is of Eyelean 1.0 since that's really where this entry started...with my failed first attempt. the pink lemonade flavor was a hit with my coworkers...so much so that they didn't mind eating it 2x.
I baked 2 cake mixes & used a 9x13 pan, a small oval pan, 1 mini ball & 1/2 of the Wilton Sports Ball pan. Only used 1 recipe (a little less actually) of buttercream & about 1/2 of a 5 lb tub of fondant. Most of the elements....plant leaves, markers & eyes & cake board cover are all gum paste. I used edible markers for the drawing. the only supports I used were bubble tea straws for the eyes. I re-used the markers from v1, but all of the rest was made new for v2.
I appreciate the opportunity this cake contest has given me. I've learned that I'm better than I knew & I'm not afraid to try new things even if I failed once. And even though v2 isn't perfect, I"m very proud of myself...so thanks for that. I plan on entering next year too
I did really well on my first attempt except that I made her eyes way too heavy & used fondant mixed with tylose powder for the eye structure. the cake was perfect until I put the eyes in. It was such a disaster that my friend named her Eyelean/Eileen. This made me laugh after I initially cried due to all of that time spent on the cake to not have it be good enough to enter. So I decided after much deliberation that if I could make the eyes lighter & stronger, I would attempt the cake again.
So another friend casually said "why not use marshmallows for the eyeballs?". I thought this was good, so I covered large marshmallows with gum paste, let them dry a while & then I made the rest of the eye structure out of gum paste instead of fondant w/tylose. When they dried, they did seem stronger & lighter, so here's Eyelean v.2.
So if you count both cakes it probably took me about 35 hours, but for each one probably about 17. I need to learn to keep better track.
My first picture (not the primary one) is of Eyelean 1.0 since that's really where this entry started...with my failed first attempt. the pink lemonade flavor was a hit with my coworkers...so much so that they didn't mind eating it 2x.
I baked 2 cake mixes & used a 9x13 pan, a small oval pan, 1 mini ball & 1/2 of the Wilton Sports Ball pan. Only used 1 recipe (a little less actually) of buttercream & about 1/2 of a 5 lb tub of fondant. Most of the elements....plant leaves, markers & eyes & cake board cover are all gum paste. I used edible markers for the drawing. the only supports I used were bubble tea straws for the eyes. I re-used the markers from v1, but all of the rest was made new for v2.
I appreciate the opportunity this cake contest has given me. I've learned that I'm better than I knew & I'm not afraid to try new things even if I failed once. And even though v2 isn't perfect, I"m very proud of myself...so thanks for that. I plan on entering next year too
