2D 1st place 1
Just a Bite
by Megan Matsumoto · submitted Nov 24, 2015 · 2015 contest
1 / 62
Description
Here we go again! This is my 6th time entering a Threadless competition, and like all the others, it was so much fun. I admit that I really did struggle at first with picking a design and went through all the designs several times. Finally after much staring at my computer and some help from my mom and sister, I eventually selected Just a Bite. It really was an appropriate design considering I made it around Halloween time (yes, I procrastinated with submitting it), and I am a Disney freak who works at Disneyland. It is also incredibly detailed which is what I always look for in a design. :)
I basically started out the same way as I have for all my previous entries. I printed out the design onto paper and used it as a template. I made the witch and the apple first and that was actually really easy. Then came the endless amount of leaves and foliage that make up much of the design. That part was extremely tedious, especially because I had to make 2 of everything since the right and left side mirror each other. While I usually enjoy making detailed things out of gumpaste, that foliage just never seemed to end and definitely took the most time out of everything. It's a really good thing I have tiny tools and tiny hands because many of the pieces were very small and very fragile. While I did color some of the fondant and gumpaste, most everything was made with just white gumpaste
Then came color! Woohoo! Once all the pieces were made and dried, I started painting them with food coloring. Painting is definitely my favorite part, which is why I always tend to paint my cakes now. I followed my same technique from the last 2 competitions by picking a design with very little color and adding my own colors to the cake version of the design. Once everything was painted, I made the drapery and the frame, and started “gluing” the pieces together with gumpaste glue.
Next came the cake. I baked a snickerdoodle cake and filled it with cinnamon Italian meringue buttercream. I did not have a cake board big enough, so I cut a large piece of cardboard from a box and covered it with white fondant. I then placed the cake on the board and carefully covered it with all the gumpaste pieces. Unfortunately I wasn’t careful enough and there were several breakages, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Lastly, I painted on all the blood splatter, trying to stay as close to the design as possible, which was difficult to do since the cake was obviously not on the same level as the board. I constantly had to get up and stand on a chair looking down at the cake to get the right perspective. After a million pictures from all angles, the cake was unceremoniously cut up for my roommates to enjoy. It tasted amazing and was not the least bit poisonous. ;)
The cake was 100% edible. All the pieces of the design were made from fondant or gumpaste and painted with food coloring. I honestly have no idea how many hours it took, nor do I really want to. XP It definitely took longer than I had hoped it would.
All in all, I feel it was another very successful cake and I really loved the end product. It is always such a fun challenge to take an intricate and flat design and turn it into a cake, and I am so blessed that I had the time to enter this competition again. I am so grateful to Chris for putting on this competition each year and I love that I can add this 6th Threadless cake to my portfolio. Can’t wait for next year!
P.S.
There is a hidden Mickey in the blood splatter. :D
I basically started out the same way as I have for all my previous entries. I printed out the design onto paper and used it as a template. I made the witch and the apple first and that was actually really easy. Then came the endless amount of leaves and foliage that make up much of the design. That part was extremely tedious, especially because I had to make 2 of everything since the right and left side mirror each other. While I usually enjoy making detailed things out of gumpaste, that foliage just never seemed to end and definitely took the most time out of everything. It's a really good thing I have tiny tools and tiny hands because many of the pieces were very small and very fragile. While I did color some of the fondant and gumpaste, most everything was made with just white gumpaste
Then came color! Woohoo! Once all the pieces were made and dried, I started painting them with food coloring. Painting is definitely my favorite part, which is why I always tend to paint my cakes now. I followed my same technique from the last 2 competitions by picking a design with very little color and adding my own colors to the cake version of the design. Once everything was painted, I made the drapery and the frame, and started “gluing” the pieces together with gumpaste glue.
Next came the cake. I baked a snickerdoodle cake and filled it with cinnamon Italian meringue buttercream. I did not have a cake board big enough, so I cut a large piece of cardboard from a box and covered it with white fondant. I then placed the cake on the board and carefully covered it with all the gumpaste pieces. Unfortunately I wasn’t careful enough and there were several breakages, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Lastly, I painted on all the blood splatter, trying to stay as close to the design as possible, which was difficult to do since the cake was obviously not on the same level as the board. I constantly had to get up and stand on a chair looking down at the cake to get the right perspective. After a million pictures from all angles, the cake was unceremoniously cut up for my roommates to enjoy. It tasted amazing and was not the least bit poisonous. ;)
The cake was 100% edible. All the pieces of the design were made from fondant or gumpaste and painted with food coloring. I honestly have no idea how many hours it took, nor do I really want to. XP It definitely took longer than I had hoped it would.
All in all, I feel it was another very successful cake and I really loved the end product. It is always such a fun challenge to take an intricate and flat design and turn it into a cake, and I am so blessed that I had the time to enter this competition again. I am so grateful to Chris for putting on this competition each year and I love that I can add this 6th Threadless cake to my portfolio. Can’t wait for next year!
P.S.
There is a hidden Mickey in the blood splatter. :D
