groom's cake

So after I had resigned to the fact that I was going to make Tom's stupid wedding cake, I started thinking about how I could turn this into something fun. I love the idea of groom's cakes. Something fun and creative to offset the formality of a wedding. I asked Tom if Courtney was getting him a groom's cake and when he said no, I told him that I would like to take care of it. I figured as long as I was baking a billion cakes, what was a few more... At the firehouse I took pictures of one of our engines. I loosely measured it to get proportions and then paired it down to cake size. I baked two extra 12x12 cakes. No problem.

I have never used fondant before because, lets be honest, it does not taste good. But I figured since this was just a side cake, I would give it a whirl. I bought Satin Ice fondant online, pre-made pre-colored, I was told it is the same brand that Duff uses and tasted better than Wilton's brand.

Each section was just going to be two layers of cake. Since I think that frosting makes a cake, I split those layers in half so there were three filling layers between the cake. You with me? Cake, filling, cake, frosting, cake, filling, cake. That is the anatomy of the fire engine.

After stacking and filling the cakes, I cut divots and angles where I would need them for the body shape. Then I covered them with a crumb coat (why? I don't know, they were just going to be covered by fondant) and then the normal layer of frosting.

Next came the start of the stress. Fondant. I don't want to talk about it. It rips. It sticks to the mat. It dries. It traumatizes me. I covered it in three pieces to avoid the major obstacle of getting the fondant to conform around and in the nooks and crannies of the creation without tearing. I think it helped, but in no way did it make this an easy task.

The fondant didn't make nice sharp edges like I wanted. Possibly because it's cake and cake does not make sharp edges. Possibly because I gave it a healthy layer of frosting underneath. I did the best I could. I kept the cake in the fridge initially. Not sure why. Later as I was adding the details I kept them out for a while. Bad idea. The fondant was so heavy that it squished the frosting from the top down the sides which then began to squish out micro-cracks on the side. I freaked out. The engine was falling apart! I almost trashed the project then.

But since Tom was depending on the cake for dessert at the rehearsal dinner, I couldn't disappoint. (note: My backup plan was a Costco sheetcake. You can't go wrong with a Costco cake.) I too thought it was weird that they were using the grooms cake for the rehearsal dinner. But really, it just added to the stress. Now instead of a fun side project that could be trashed if it didn't work out, it became the main dessert for an event.

Adding the details to the cake was pretty easy. Fondant adheres to fondant with water, just paint and stick. The silver (looks like gray in the pictures, but it was shiny silver) was a edible silver powder that you mixed in clear vanilla and painted on. The bumper, mirrors and orange cone were gum paste. Sticky but moldable, let it dry for a day and it becomes hard. Then paint.

The hard suction hose (long black things) were wood dowels colored with a black sharpie marker with a little fondant wrapped on the end. I was also going to add hose on the bed of the engine (back of the truck) using strips of fondant, but by the time I got to that I was too tired. I was done with the cake. I gave it a few strips of crosslays (hose over the middle part) and called it good.

Add a few lights, stick the bumpers on and ta-dah! Finished project. Not to bad. Now back in the fridge before it melts again.

(sidenote: My favorite part of the cake was the hose load (above). It is the trash line and that is how it looks when it is packed. Super cute huh. Second favorite, the little orange cone on the back bumper.)

With that done, I disassembled it for transport and drove with my AC pumped on high to the restaurant an hour away.

Then I put it together again and it sat in the middle of the table while we ate a delicious mexican feast. (sidenote: If you ever find yourself in Leesburg area try Mariachi and get the steak fajitas; they are fantastic.) It was a fun night. Tom was too afraid to cut the cake, he didn't want to desecrate a fire engine, so he made Mike do it.

This is Tom and Courtney's little girl Charlotte. She is pretty cute. She wanted to get into that cake all night. When they started cutting the cake, she grabbed the first piece that was put to the side. (picture on left: note she was looking around to see if anyone was going to stop her. I did not.) She then proceeded to give it away and kept on passing out the pieces of cake.

Yum. That's all I have to say about that.

The back part of the engine was lemon cake with raspberry filling and regular buttercream frosting. The front cab and middle pump were chocolate cake with dark chocolate truffle filling and almond-hinted buttercream frosting. I have to admit it was yummy, but the best part of the night was seeing that cake cut up and demolished. Stress gone. Now onto the wedding cake.