3D
Himalayas Souvenir Tee
by Kate Mulhauser · submitted Nov 4, 2013 · 2013 contest
1 / 14
Description
Every year, I like to use Threadcakes to try out a new cake decorating technique. This year, I went with marzipan figures.
I baked the cake from a white cake box mix on a Friday night, along with some oversized sugar cookies that would become the base structures for the sun and the sign. I let those cool in the fridge, and on Sunday I started stacking cake chunks into mountains and covering them with Pilsbury white frosting. To color the mountains, I used three colors of colored sugar sprinkles. That was the easy part.
I started off making the Abominable Snowman first, since he is the largest figure, and I wasn't sure if I would have time or space to complete all three monsters. I'm glad that I did, because he was all I could do. I learned that marzipan is very difficult to sculpt with - it likes to stay in balls or logs, and doesn't blend well into other pieces. It also doesn't take applied coloring very well. To color him, I ended up scuffing the surface with my nail and applying a diluted food coloring bath, white kind of lightly dyed where the scuffs were. The linework was done by food coloring straight out of the bottle, and applied with the end of a toothpick. The only non-edible part of this cake are the pieces of toothpicks that are helping to hold his limbs together.
As for the cookies, I frosted those to make them white. The sun was simply decorated with the colored sugar, like the mountains. I think that cookie is my favorite part of the cake. The sign was done with a tube of blue gel icing. The HIMALAYAS light blue was filled in with the same food coloring wash that I had used on the marzipan. I dropped it into the letterwork to soak in, then used a paper towel to soak up the extra.
I brought the cake in to work today (Monday) to share with my coworkers, and they all really enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun with the cake this year, but I think maybe next time I'll try modeling chocolate instead of marzipan.
I baked the cake from a white cake box mix on a Friday night, along with some oversized sugar cookies that would become the base structures for the sun and the sign. I let those cool in the fridge, and on Sunday I started stacking cake chunks into mountains and covering them with Pilsbury white frosting. To color the mountains, I used three colors of colored sugar sprinkles. That was the easy part.
I started off making the Abominable Snowman first, since he is the largest figure, and I wasn't sure if I would have time or space to complete all three monsters. I'm glad that I did, because he was all I could do. I learned that marzipan is very difficult to sculpt with - it likes to stay in balls or logs, and doesn't blend well into other pieces. It also doesn't take applied coloring very well. To color him, I ended up scuffing the surface with my nail and applying a diluted food coloring bath, white kind of lightly dyed where the scuffs were. The linework was done by food coloring straight out of the bottle, and applied with the end of a toothpick. The only non-edible part of this cake are the pieces of toothpicks that are helping to hold his limbs together.
As for the cookies, I frosted those to make them white. The sun was simply decorated with the colored sugar, like the mountains. I think that cookie is my favorite part of the cake. The sign was done with a tube of blue gel icing. The HIMALAYAS light blue was filled in with the same food coloring wash that I had used on the marzipan. I dropped it into the letterwork to soak in, then used a paper towel to soak up the extra.
I brought the cake in to work today (Monday) to share with my coworkers, and they all really enjoyed it! I had a lot of fun with the cake this year, but I think maybe next time I'll try modeling chocolate instead of marzipan.
