3D Finalist 12
Friendship Totem Pole Muppets DTG
by Nanthini Retnam · submitted Jul 24, 2012 · 2012 contest
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Description
When I decided to join the threadcakes contest earlier this year, I forced myself to shortlist 3 designs just in case I was biting off more than I can chew. But it really wasn’t necessary as the moment I saw the Muppets Friendship Totem Pole design, I knew that was it! It was going to involve LOTS of cake and something totally out of my comfort zone as I’ve never done such a tall cake before.
Initially I thought candy cane sticks or chocolate sticks could be used in place of dowel rods, but after scaling the design to actual size, I realized that there weren’t anything I could use that was tall yet sturdy enough to hold up that much of cake without it toppling into a disastrous (albeit delicious) pile of cake crumbs. So, dowel rods it was. Although a centre pole going through the middle of the cake tiers would have been crucial with a cake as tall as this, I decided to test out my balancing skills and try and see if I could stack the cakes one on top of the other without using anymore inedible support structures other than the dowel rods. All decorations other than Animal’s hands (I used wires) were supported with uncooked spaghetti sticks.
The design required 5 cakes and I made the flavours to match the colours of the Muppets:
1. Lemon blueberry cake for Gonzo the Great,
2. Moist chocolate orange cake for Fozzy Bear,
3. Raspberry vanilla cake for Miss Piggy,
4. Green tea vanilla for Kermit, and
5. Red velvet for Animal.
All the cakes and buttercream were made from scratch as I much preferred the taste of scratch cakes to box mixes. I baked the cakes a week in advance and froze them while preparing the fondant decorations.
I printed out the design then cut them out to use as templates for the faces of the Muppets. Camille the chicken and Rizzo the rat was made out of Rice Krispy and marshmallows. All other decorations were made from gumpaste, and fondant.
Gonzo and Kermit were the easiest to make as these two only required me to cut out the faces on fondant and stick it on. I made Gonzo’s beak a little thicker than the rest of his face to give it some dimension. Fozzy bear was carved to shape then covered in fondant. Later I added texture on Fozzy bear’s fur using a shell fondant modelling tool and sculpted his ears out of gumpaste. Miss Piggy required a little more work as I moulded her locks of hair individually and textured it using a fondant tool then attached it to the cake with spaghetti sticks. Animal’s fur was also individually cut and textured with a small pallet knife to mimic the fur as in the original design. I attached his hands to his body using a few sticks of spaghetti which was almost hidden against the cream wall background.
The stacking process was nerve wreaking to say the least. Each cake was 6.5-7” tall making the entire cake a whopping 33” tall! Each tier had to be as straight as possible and aligned as every tier would affect the rest of the tiers that were going to go on after it.
In the end, with the help of my boyfriend, we got it to work and took as many pictures as possible before finally digging into the cakes. I happily settled for a slice of my favourite green tea vanilla cake and it was delicious!
Initially I thought candy cane sticks or chocolate sticks could be used in place of dowel rods, but after scaling the design to actual size, I realized that there weren’t anything I could use that was tall yet sturdy enough to hold up that much of cake without it toppling into a disastrous (albeit delicious) pile of cake crumbs. So, dowel rods it was. Although a centre pole going through the middle of the cake tiers would have been crucial with a cake as tall as this, I decided to test out my balancing skills and try and see if I could stack the cakes one on top of the other without using anymore inedible support structures other than the dowel rods. All decorations other than Animal’s hands (I used wires) were supported with uncooked spaghetti sticks.
The design required 5 cakes and I made the flavours to match the colours of the Muppets:
1. Lemon blueberry cake for Gonzo the Great,
2. Moist chocolate orange cake for Fozzy Bear,
3. Raspberry vanilla cake for Miss Piggy,
4. Green tea vanilla for Kermit, and
5. Red velvet for Animal.
All the cakes and buttercream were made from scratch as I much preferred the taste of scratch cakes to box mixes. I baked the cakes a week in advance and froze them while preparing the fondant decorations.
I printed out the design then cut them out to use as templates for the faces of the Muppets. Camille the chicken and Rizzo the rat was made out of Rice Krispy and marshmallows. All other decorations were made from gumpaste, and fondant.
Gonzo and Kermit were the easiest to make as these two only required me to cut out the faces on fondant and stick it on. I made Gonzo’s beak a little thicker than the rest of his face to give it some dimension. Fozzy bear was carved to shape then covered in fondant. Later I added texture on Fozzy bear’s fur using a shell fondant modelling tool and sculpted his ears out of gumpaste. Miss Piggy required a little more work as I moulded her locks of hair individually and textured it using a fondant tool then attached it to the cake with spaghetti sticks. Animal’s fur was also individually cut and textured with a small pallet knife to mimic the fur as in the original design. I attached his hands to his body using a few sticks of spaghetti which was almost hidden against the cream wall background.
The stacking process was nerve wreaking to say the least. Each cake was 6.5-7” tall making the entire cake a whopping 33” tall! Each tier had to be as straight as possible and aligned as every tier would affect the rest of the tiers that were going to go on after it.
In the end, with the help of my boyfriend, we got it to work and took as many pictures as possible before finally digging into the cakes. I happily settled for a slice of my favourite green tea vanilla cake and it was delicious!
