3D
Grenade
by Sam Harrison · submitted Oct 16, 2013 · 2013 contest
1 / 13
Description
I loved this design and thought it would make an excellent cake. I'm a big fan of using black for cakes so this design really stood out to me.
Overall, this cake did take me a few days as I had to fit it in around work. I decided a good option for the flavour would be Mudcake as it's a sturdy cake for carving and meant that even if it took me a few days to complete, the cake would still be nice and fresh inside!
I baked 3 6 inch square layers of mudcake and stacked these with a yummy Belgian Chocolate buttercream. Before carving, I placed a couple of normal drinking straws through to make sure the cake didn't turn during cutting and make me end up with a wonky shape. I then ganached the cake and let it set for a day before removing the straws and then covering it with white sugarpaste. I used smoothers to get a sharp, straight edge on the top of the cake. Next I used to a tool to make the detail shapes on the top and sides of the cake to give it the appearance of a grenade and made the 'handle' gumpaste with added tylo to make it harden quicker.
To give stability, I used RKT to make the very top part of the grenade as this would be holding the handle and possibly the flower. Once I shaped it, I covered it in sugarpaste and added it to the top of the cake. The next step was to add the handle to the very top. I 'glued' it with royal icing and used a stick of raw spaghetti to help keep it in place whilst the icing set.
My this was all left to dry, I made the flower and leaves from white gumpaste. Once these had set, I painted them with edible paint.
I airbrushed the whole cake in black once the handle was securely in place and allowed it to dry before adding the white painted details. Once this was dry, the flowers and leaves were added. The only non-edible element was the wire in 2 of the leaf 'stems' as they needed to be fairly rigid and secure.
I set the cake up on a black background to resemble the original image as it brings out the details well.
Once that was done, it was time for the cutting! The kids and hubby will be having cake in their packing up for a few days that's for sure!
Overall, this cake did take me a few days as I had to fit it in around work. I decided a good option for the flavour would be Mudcake as it's a sturdy cake for carving and meant that even if it took me a few days to complete, the cake would still be nice and fresh inside!
I baked 3 6 inch square layers of mudcake and stacked these with a yummy Belgian Chocolate buttercream. Before carving, I placed a couple of normal drinking straws through to make sure the cake didn't turn during cutting and make me end up with a wonky shape. I then ganached the cake and let it set for a day before removing the straws and then covering it with white sugarpaste. I used smoothers to get a sharp, straight edge on the top of the cake. Next I used to a tool to make the detail shapes on the top and sides of the cake to give it the appearance of a grenade and made the 'handle' gumpaste with added tylo to make it harden quicker.
To give stability, I used RKT to make the very top part of the grenade as this would be holding the handle and possibly the flower. Once I shaped it, I covered it in sugarpaste and added it to the top of the cake. The next step was to add the handle to the very top. I 'glued' it with royal icing and used a stick of raw spaghetti to help keep it in place whilst the icing set.
My this was all left to dry, I made the flower and leaves from white gumpaste. Once these had set, I painted them with edible paint.
I airbrushed the whole cake in black once the handle was securely in place and allowed it to dry before adding the white painted details. Once this was dry, the flowers and leaves were added. The only non-edible element was the wire in 2 of the leaf 'stems' as they needed to be fairly rigid and secure.
I set the cake up on a black background to resemble the original image as it brings out the details well.
Once that was done, it was time for the cutting! The kids and hubby will be having cake in their packing up for a few days that's for sure!