3D
Nesting Dolls
by Lauren Talley @calicocat30 · submitted Jul 27, 2009 · 2009 contest
1 / 46
Description
When I first saw this contest I flipped out! Cake decorating is a passion of mine so I knew I had to try to enter. I work two jobs (one of them as a cake decorator in a supermarket)and I lost track of how many weeks had gone by so by the time I got around to getting serious there were some seriously AWESOME cakes already submitted. I got scared and almost didn't compete. I hadn't ever worked with fondant before let alone any cake carving outside of leveling wedding cakes! So with my ambition and my design I manned up and got cooking.
I decided to use funfetti - because it's so fun and festive! you can't be unhappy when eating funfetti - it's the law. I baked the large cupcakes first and got to work making the dolls. Those consumed most of my time as I wanted them to be detailed and look as hand painted as possible (because they were lol). To me - nesting dolls always remind me of antiques so i wanted this cake to really look like there was a lot of care with these dolls and give it an Asian style paint job but have them all stilling on kind of an old lady doily pillow.
Once those were complete I baked the 4 round cakes that made up the pillow like cake the dolls were to be placed on. I iced them and put pink marshmallow fondant over the whole thing. Once it was set I placed the dolls on and did my borders and writing. All in all this cake took almost a week to do because I had to do it in what little spare time I had.
I made my own butter cream as well as my own marshmallow fondant but I used Pillsbury funfetti cake mix. The photographer is my boyfriend and he was also one of the major obsticals the cake had to survive. He licked every utensil and bowl I used as well as tried to run away with my fondant and eat it. The second major obstacle was my 18 year old cat. The cake managed to survive everything through construction to finish and the night after i got all my pictures she finally got smart, got up on the counter, and licked the crud out of the cake. I posted a picture of that as well. I also have a picture of a wound I incurred while working. It's not art until you bleed for it!
I want to thank my older sister and my boyfriend for all of their fantastic support and cheer leading as well as thank threadless/threadcakes for having this amazing competition and for producing this hilarious design!
I decided to use funfetti - because it's so fun and festive! you can't be unhappy when eating funfetti - it's the law. I baked the large cupcakes first and got to work making the dolls. Those consumed most of my time as I wanted them to be detailed and look as hand painted as possible (because they were lol). To me - nesting dolls always remind me of antiques so i wanted this cake to really look like there was a lot of care with these dolls and give it an Asian style paint job but have them all stilling on kind of an old lady doily pillow.
Once those were complete I baked the 4 round cakes that made up the pillow like cake the dolls were to be placed on. I iced them and put pink marshmallow fondant over the whole thing. Once it was set I placed the dolls on and did my borders and writing. All in all this cake took almost a week to do because I had to do it in what little spare time I had.
I made my own butter cream as well as my own marshmallow fondant but I used Pillsbury funfetti cake mix. The photographer is my boyfriend and he was also one of the major obsticals the cake had to survive. He licked every utensil and bowl I used as well as tried to run away with my fondant and eat it. The second major obstacle was my 18 year old cat. The cake managed to survive everything through construction to finish and the night after i got all my pictures she finally got smart, got up on the counter, and licked the crud out of the cake. I posted a picture of that as well. I also have a picture of a wound I incurred while working. It's not art until you bleed for it!
I want to thank my older sister and my boyfriend for all of their fantastic support and cheer leading as well as thank threadless/threadcakes for having this amazing competition and for producing this hilarious design!