Grand Piano Cake for Grandad

After Beth's family saw her handbag cake they asked whether I would make a cake for her Grandads 80th birthday. With plenty of notice and a well thought out plan for getting it to the party venue (up Manchester way) I willingly agreed. They wanted a cake in the shape of a Grand Piano which sounded like an interesting challenge!

There wasn't a great deal I could prepare in advance but I did manage to make the keyboard, the pedals, the lid, lid prop and the sheet music stand. These were made in modelling paste to ensure they dried hard. I also ordered some 'Happy Birthday' sheet music printed onto rice paper and drafted Dave into painting three white pillars black with water-based modellers paint. 

I spent quite a while working on the design to make sure the proportions looked right. An oblong Madeira cake was carved into the curved piano shape and placed on a thin cake board cut using a sharp craft knife.

It all came together really well and Beth and her family were thrilled with the finished article. I think it is one of my favourites too.

Happy Birthday Barrie!

Tea for two

One week - three cakes to make and decorate. The difficulty was fitting it in around my full-time job. Anyway just after midnight on Thursday night all were done. Here's the first - my interpretation of Afternoon Tea on a cake. 

This birthday cake was for a friends elderly mother. Anne provided me with a image of the design she had in mind. I felt the pressure was on to match this. It must have been how my hairdresser used to feel when I turned up with a photo cut out from a magazine of a hairstyle I wanted created on my impossible to style thick wavy locks!! Thankfully her comment on seeing the finished cake was "it's better than the picture I gave you" which was a nice compliment. Here are a selection of photographs including close-ups of the finished article.

Moulding and assembling the individual components was quite time consuming but very rewarding. The crockery set was moulded from flower paste to ensure they held their shape and, once dry, were 'painted' with edible gold colour and edible felt pens to create the rose design. The scones were dusted with icing sugar and the cupcakes topped with royal icing rosettes to represent cream. Battenberg, little eclairs and sandwiches completed the selection. I used rice paper for the doilies on the blue plates, the 'Happy Birthday' topper on the large cake and the 'Afternoon Tea' menu. The lacy tablecloth was made using an Impressit embossing square and the frilly edge made with a special cutter. Time wise it probably took in excess of 7 hours to create!

 

I think I need a cuppa now.......