3D
Clean Monster
by Tracey Stadelmann · submitted Jul 20, 2010 · 2010 contest
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Description
The Threadcakes competition happened to (luckily) coincide with my university holidays so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to test out my baking skills. I knew my first Threadcakes entry had to be monster/dinosaur related and this design has long been a favourite of mine. So with my design decided upon and my plan all worked out I began the monster task of creating this cake. Overall the cake took me about one and a half days to complete.
As the success of this cake was entirely dependant upon me being able to temper, colour and then shape white chocolate for the buildings, I thought that this may be the most suitable place to start. I used a mixture of white cooking and white eating chocolate which I then tempered (so it would set hard) and dyed green. After getting the chocolate to a workable consistency I spread it into rectangles and once semi-dry trimmed the edges. Once I was happy with the result, I started on the cake.
All up I made 4 separate chocolate sponge cakes, two 26cm cakes for the base and two 20cm cakes for the top layer. After baking the cakes I sandwiched them with chocolate butter cream and spread a layer of vanilla butter cream around the perimeter of the cake to help hold the icing.
I used fondant icing which after one failed attempt I was able to dye to a pastel blue colour. After rolling out the icing, I transferred it over to each of the separate layer and smoothed both the cakes out.
Next I got to work finishing off the white chocolate buildings. I used a mixture of green gel food dye and water to create the “paint” for the trees. Using a fine paint brush I painted on the trees as well as some streaks to add a bit more colour to the buildings. I let these dry and started moulding my little monster. The monster, as well as the sponge and window cleaner were made out of fondant which I dyed. After completing the monster, I needed to support his head while he dried so it wouldn’t just fall off. I used food dye once again to paint on his eyes and nose.
Now came the fun part, assembling the cake! I started by layering the bottom and top parts of the cake. Then using some royal icing I had made up, I began sticking each of the buildings around the outside of the cake. Once this was all completed all that was left was to position my monster and his cleaning supplies.
As the success of this cake was entirely dependant upon me being able to temper, colour and then shape white chocolate for the buildings, I thought that this may be the most suitable place to start. I used a mixture of white cooking and white eating chocolate which I then tempered (so it would set hard) and dyed green. After getting the chocolate to a workable consistency I spread it into rectangles and once semi-dry trimmed the edges. Once I was happy with the result, I started on the cake.
All up I made 4 separate chocolate sponge cakes, two 26cm cakes for the base and two 20cm cakes for the top layer. After baking the cakes I sandwiched them with chocolate butter cream and spread a layer of vanilla butter cream around the perimeter of the cake to help hold the icing.
I used fondant icing which after one failed attempt I was able to dye to a pastel blue colour. After rolling out the icing, I transferred it over to each of the separate layer and smoothed both the cakes out.
Next I got to work finishing off the white chocolate buildings. I used a mixture of green gel food dye and water to create the “paint” for the trees. Using a fine paint brush I painted on the trees as well as some streaks to add a bit more colour to the buildings. I let these dry and started moulding my little monster. The monster, as well as the sponge and window cleaner were made out of fondant which I dyed. After completing the monster, I needed to support his head while he dried so it wouldn’t just fall off. I used food dye once again to paint on his eyes and nose.
Now came the fun part, assembling the cake! I started by layering the bottom and top parts of the cake. Then using some royal icing I had made up, I began sticking each of the buildings around the outside of the cake. Once this was all completed all that was left was to position my monster and his cleaning supplies.