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- Edible Art -

Craighall Park Randburg, GP, 2196 South Africa



A day in the life of the Turquoise Squirrel - or - an Ode to choosing the right supplier

October 08, 2018  /  El Saayman Ever wonder if its worth paying that much for ‘just a slice of cake’? Well here is your answer!

tags / Cake Fails, Cake knowledge

My first 'behind the scenes' cake - Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet 3D cake step by step

August 06, 2018  /  El Saayman I have been wanting to post a step by step for a cake for ages, and I finally had the perfect opportunity with an exciting cake I did recently: A 3D Thanos/Infinity Gauntlet (pretty much a fancy metal glove with stones on.... for the geeks (including me) - I am sure you know where its from? If not: Watch Infinity War.) So I tried to model it as close to the original as possible, obviously with some creative license.

Some pics first of the finished product:

Now to the fun bit for all you bakers and wanna-be-bakers out there... here is how I did it. - as a little time line, it took me 3 days (not the full days, but this includes chilling time in the fridge over night, which is super important)

I baked several rounds of Choc Cake so that I could stack them sideways, if that makes sense... its pretty much assembled like a long tall cake, layer on its side. To help me with the shape I drew out the size of the fist on cardboard first and then traced it onto Foam core, and cut that out with a scalpel. On that board I assembled the cake with Chocolate Swiss meringue Buttercream (and loads of it for yumminess) in between each layer. In hindsight I should have halved the cakes as I usually do and fill them and then stack, but hey, this was my first try. I assembled it so there are larger cakes at the bottom to make the arm, and then smaller ones going up, and then a large one again at the top for the fist. I cut off a little of each cake on the side to make them sit flat on the board so they won't roll away. On this pic I kinda got ahead of myself and started carving, but you get the idea. Now to the Carving, my top 4 tips:  Before you start carving, chill the cake in the fridge overnight so its solid! Otherwise the caring will be a big mess! Secondly, use a serrated knife. Thirdly, go slowly and carve off rather too little than too much. Its much harder to put cake back... And keep going back to the reference - I dont know if you have noticed, but for this project you pretty much have the best reference out there: Yourself! Use your arm and hand and copy it!

At this point you are trying to get the general shape, no knuckles or anything yet, that comes later. Just the large plains really! That's it for the carving! Don't go too far, there are loads of elements and details you can add much easier with the Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream . Which is next! Yaaaaay. Add that yummy goodness. I generously spread on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream (BTW: any Butterceam will do - Ganache hardens too quickly for me at this point... but you're welcome to use that too if that works better for you). I used flexible plastic scrapers and offset spatulas to smooth out the icing. Now you can keep going with the details, add knuckles and fingers with the icing, use your fingers to get the shapes right, they work great! Little modeling tools (fondant tools) work great too. Pop it back in the fridge, let it set up firm, best is over night! Then it is time to add the fondant. The icing is sticky, so no need to spray it. Just roll out your fondant to your preferred thickness, and cover (I like it between 3-5mm thickness). Press out air bubbles and smooth it over. Spend some extra time on modelling the knuckles and fingers. Use modelling tools (Dresden Tool) to add the gaps between the fingers and the folds of the thumb. To cover the Board, I used the cut out bit from the Foam core... remember the bit at the beginning I assembled the arm on? The cut out bit (the left over foam core) will be great to trace around to make the base where the hand will lie. Add modelling chocolate blocks and fondant around that shape to make it looks like its lying on rocks and to have a nice surface that will keep the arm from rolling away. Cover in Fondant, and use crumpled up Silver foil to get the stone text. So much fuuuuun! Such a great effect with such cheap tools. Transfer the Hand onto the cake board, and secure it with Piping Gel, or White Chocolate... you can even add dowels to make it extra secure if you like. Now to the really fun part! Decorating (I honestly think everything is the funnest part ever... just loved this project so much!) Looking at the design of the original gauntlet, there are several layers. I cut them out of fondant, layered them on top of each other and added detailing with the modelling tools (a lot of the lines are added with the Dresden tool). An extruder gun was used to make the ropes, and protruding lines, and also the rope around the stones. The Stones were moulds and I just used fondant. I really really wanted to use Isomalt, but I ran out!!!! If I ever get to make this again, I will make it with proper see through gorgeous jewels! Promise! And now.... drummroll please.... the funnestestest part of it all: Painting it! I made it all in white, as the metallics really show up very well on the white, and I didn't want to worry about the colours in the beginning but really focus on the structure of it, and not get sidetracked by the colouring of it. I used the petal dust colours, and hydrated them with Vodka, and just went for it. Lastly, I added a dry coat of a darker hue to bring out the edges and designs, and lastly the stones were glossed up with some glaze. That's it! Finished Infinity Gauntlet! I hope you enjoyed the post... if you have comments or questions, please leave them below, I will try to get back to them ASAP (but please be patient with me). If you want to see more of this sort of thing, please also let me know, I am just trying this out for the first time. And if you like it, pin it, like it, repost it, share it...

categories / How to / Step by step
tags / Thanos, Gauntlet, Infinity gauntlet, 3D cake, Sculpted Cake, How to, Step by step

So excited to be featured on Wedding Album

January 16, 2018  /  El Saayman

I am so thrilled that this post appeared on Wedding Album, and what a lovely post it is! I didn't even know about it, they just phoned me and said I must check out the website, what a lovely surprise! Read the post here or click on the image to be redirected to the post.