3D
Fail
by Alyda Hardy · submitted Aug 4, 2009 · 2009 contest
1 / 18
Description
So I actually did two cow cakes, one as a test-run and then the final. I'm glad I did the test-run because the cows were too heavy, even made of cake wrapped in fondant, and I couldn't get the moon to stay up. I really wanted an elevated moon, and it was tough getting it balanced right on a dowel stuck in cake.
It took me about eight hours to do the final version of the cake. I made the fondant the night before with marshmallows and powdered sugar, and then created two dark chocolate sheet cakes. I cut one in half and doubled it, and then sculpted it a little to form a "hill." I used homemade chocolate cream cheese icing dyed green -- I'm not a big fan of buttercream, and I wasn't planning to cover it in fondant... I know the look of a fondant-covered cake is smoother, but I don't like the way it tastes, even the homemade kind, so I opted instead to use a comb to make little "grass" lines in the icing. I made the cows out of halves of marshmallows wrapped in gum paste and/or fondant, with gum paste heads and legs, and then painted the details on with gel food coloring. One of the main comments from my test cake was that people loved the cows, and everyone ate them first and were put out there were only 4 of them. So this time I made a whole herd, and they were a hit -- the first thing to be eaten, and for some reason people liked biting their heads off first.
I took this cake to my office today so I wouldn't binge on it, and it was gone by 1 p.m. except for the moon! At one point I went through and there were disembodied cows all over the place, like a cow massacre. It was really funny, in a macabre sort of way.
After seeing all of the absolutely amazing entries I know there is no way I will win, but it was really fun doing this, and you can't get better without practice!
It took me about eight hours to do the final version of the cake. I made the fondant the night before with marshmallows and powdered sugar, and then created two dark chocolate sheet cakes. I cut one in half and doubled it, and then sculpted it a little to form a "hill." I used homemade chocolate cream cheese icing dyed green -- I'm not a big fan of buttercream, and I wasn't planning to cover it in fondant... I know the look of a fondant-covered cake is smoother, but I don't like the way it tastes, even the homemade kind, so I opted instead to use a comb to make little "grass" lines in the icing. I made the cows out of halves of marshmallows wrapped in gum paste and/or fondant, with gum paste heads and legs, and then painted the details on with gel food coloring. One of the main comments from my test cake was that people loved the cows, and everyone ate them first and were put out there were only 4 of them. So this time I made a whole herd, and they were a hit -- the first thing to be eaten, and for some reason people liked biting their heads off first.
I took this cake to my office today so I wouldn't binge on it, and it was gone by 1 p.m. except for the moon! At one point I went through and there were disembodied cows all over the place, like a cow massacre. It was really funny, in a macabre sort of way.
After seeing all of the absolutely amazing entries I know there is no way I will win, but it was really fun doing this, and you can't get better without practice!