Work Log: Structural cakes

[hac]

hi everyone, id like to open up a work log here in egullet for a cake ive been tasked to make for a couple thats celebrating a japanese wedding. work log is for, hopefully to help others here that are looking for design ideas and execution and more importantly inputs from you guys on how to make this a reality (i need all the help i could get) =P

the clients saw the chinese pagoda cake that i made and wanted something similar but in japanese pagoda style and a much much more bigger version with more intricate details. heres a couple of pics of what ill be building in the course of 2 weeks til the wedding date (aug 2).

un like the chinese pagoda though (Link) which was all edible, the 6 cake layers are dummies and the bottom 2 will be edible. they dont want the pagoda to be like a triangle like in the pic (which saves me time for mold making) they want each layer except for the top to be the same sizes. dimensions would be 8in square x 6in tall for each dummy cake. WISH ME LUCK GUYS!

ref pics:

bottom layers will consist of the "landscape" with stairs and a japanese arc and the 1st building of the pagoda which will be a 10in square cake. ill upload the draft i made later for this. all in all im very very excited about this project. thing is though i have several custom cake orders as well so things are a bit jumbled up right now grrrrrr! not that im complaining by having work to do =P

[hac]

Bought an airbrush earlier im hoping it could help me out with this project! esp in the roof and grass part. they want this to look as real as i could possibly make it. arrgghh more pressure!

[Lior]

went back to look and am amazed once again. Lots of luck!!

[hac]

thanks Lior! ill be needing it!

[prasantrin]

How exciting! I can't wait to see how things progress.

BTW, I'll probably be in Manila for a bit over the Christmas holidays--hope your new shop is open by then!

[hac]

How exciting!  I can't wait to see how things progress.

BTW, I'll probably be in Manila for a bit over the Christmas holidays--hope your new shop is open by then!

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it will it will! (excited) haha! if your anywhere near new manila itll be in balete drive corner 3rd street. the construction is on going so hopefully ill finish that up and open mid august =P hope to see you on december!

[prasantrin]

How exciting!  I can't wait to see how things progress.

BTW, I'll probably be in Manila for a bit over the Christmas holidays--hope your new shop is open by then!

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it will it will! (excited) haha! if your anywhere near new manila itll be in balete drive corner 3rd street. the construction is on going so hopefully ill finish that up and open mid august =P hope to see you on december!

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Did you choose a name yet? Or is it a surprise?

[hac]

if you guys dont mind, ill upload some of the work im doing here too, i have several on going all at the same time and lets just say im going kookoo over which to do first!

[hac]

no surprises =P the name is Hackleberrys Secret Oven Cake shop with the Hackleberrys bigger and the Secret Oven as a small accent. was tough enough registering the names because everythings all taken already!

[hac]

ok like i said im working on several cakes at the same time, so while my pagoda molds are still in the process of construction, ill upload 1 of the cakes im finishing today, its a transformer cake for a cute wild birthday boy. cake roughly about 12in long?

ref pic:

board cutout:

cakes baked (mmmm choclit!):

mockup (made a few errors cutting the cake as some were shorter and i accidentaly cut those so had to make some patch ups =P):

cake fillers with white chocolate chantily with amaretto and fudge:

crumb coating (well actually more of the final coat because i like to use thin buttercream in my custom cakes to minimize too much sweetness)

since i dont have a walk in i cant say "in the walk in it goes" as much as i want to, ill settle with "in the fridge it goes!" for a few minutes then we lay down the fondant.

[hac]

cake covered in 2 pcs fondant (front and trailer are separate pcs)

added minor details like cuts and borderings:

time to paint!

[hac]

oops skipped a pic, i added a bit of slanting fondant on the "windshield" for a bit more contour =P

[hac]

waaah! painted with a booboo! yellow wasnt dry enough to paint on and it turned green hahaha! ill just cover that up with edible paper later and do another run at it!

i didnt like how the flames were sooooo not in line so i just might as well print that out too =P

[hac]

waitaminute, isnt optimus red??? geeeez!

[hac]

ok so i made the revisions and decided to print out the flames instead. now i already made the stainless steel parts and im quite happy how they turned out. also mounted the cake on the lifter.

few more to go and im done!

[hac]

fast jump! but nothing that would make it hard to follow, basically just placed all the details on the truck and a few line details here and there, what i like about airbrushing is that when you make line details itll shine in white =P

just flames and wheels and im done! woohoo!

[Lior]

It is amazing to watch it turn into a truck!! How do you know what to do in advance! You really have a vision!! Just fantastic!!

[hac]

thanks lior! i just sorta wing it =P heres some of the flames! added the wheels and exhaust, also the transformers logo and now im pooped!

the flames and logo were printed on edible sheets =P the discoloration is brought on by wetting the fondant to stick the paper sheets, ones it dries it looks normal =P

[Lior]

wow! How do you print on edible sheets?

[hac]

hi Lior, i have a normal printer that dispenses edible ink and i have some edible paper sheets. kopykake try this link for more information about it. its become really useful for me as sometimes itll take me less than an hour to come up with a theme cake for a client using photoshop and that saved my butt a lot of times too!

example:

[Lior]

Thank you. I thought that may be it!

[K8memphis]

Wow great stuff!

[hac]

heres the next project for tonite before i get serious with the pagoda. im trying to fill in orders as much as i could but its hard being a 1 person decorator =c

12in fudge filled chocolate cake with ganache cover ready for fondant

[prasantrin]

That truck is pretty amazing, and I love Filipino chocolate cakes! They're quite different in texture from North American cakes.

BTW, did you happen to look up "hackleberry" in the urban dictionary?

[hac]

side fo the cake covered in fondant via rolling technique:

top covered and crimpted:

bottome border added and crimpted as well! seriously..im pooped

btw thanks to the response i got from my other thread about crimping borders and i was able to do this by finding the right materials for it. thanks egullet!

Edited July 17, 2009 by hac (log)