Stargate cake

If you are a fan of the show, you will (hopefully) recognize this cake.  Otherwise, you may be forgiven for thinking it is a swimming pool with a man jumping in :)

I made this cake for my hubby who is a fan of the show.  It didn't start off as a stargate though.  We had a long discussion (as we usually do) about what he would like for his birthday cake this year, and it always comes down to these themes: Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate or Lord of the Rings.  Well, the original plan was Minas Tirith from LOTR but I wasn't sure about making a 7 layer cake.  Then we decided on the Enterprise from Star Trek, which then changed into a hobbit hole (LOTR again) and finally into Stargate.  That was straightforward enough, I thought.  And with so many wonderful ideas on the net from people who had made a Stargate cake (yes there are quite a few!), I started on the cake.

The cake is a chocolate mud cake covered in chocolate ganache.  It has 3 layers, and for the top layer I cut out the centre before placing it on the cake.  Then I cut into the inside of the ring to make it dip a little.  There is an excellent video on You tube by someone who made a Stargate cake.  She shows you how to cut into the ring, which I found very useful. 
Here is the cake already iced with some ganache.

Next I covered the cake with light grey fondant and made some markings around the cake using a small star cutter and a knife.  You could use a triangle cutter if you had one.  I also used a larger star cutter (or a triangle cutter) to cut out the chevrons (triangle markers) around the cake.  Cut the tip off each triangle and space them apart around the cake. 

I then made some markings on each triangle with a spatula and added some red fondant to complete it.  I struggled a little with the event horizon (middle bit).  I thought of using blue jelly, marshmallow icing or piping gel and I am sure it would have looked great but in the end I went with something I had which was royal icing.  I filled the centre with white icing and piped a border of blue around it.  Then using a toothpick and brush, I blended them together till I got the effect I wanted.  On hindsight, I could have made the lines more wavy than straight.  To complete the cake, I used the rest of the royal icing to pipe the letters on the cake as well as some of the symbols from the Stargate.

Of course, hubby had to decide that it would look more exciting to have one of the characters jumping into the wormhole so Teal'c was made, carrying his staff weapon. :)  I made him using my basic tutorial on "How to make a simple fondant figure".

I did use some wire support for the arms as it was made last minute but luckily he stayed upright ok. 
Here is the cake lit. :)

Pretty cool, huh?  Well hubby thought so, thank goodness!  Are you a fan of the show?

Happy Birthday, sweetie, I am looking forward to our discussion about your next cake. xxx  :)

Baseball cap cake

 My friend's son was turning 15 last week so his mum asked if I could make a simple cap cake for him as he was into collecting caps.  She wanted it to match his favourite navy blue cap.  It was quite straightforward to make and since she wanted more servings I suggested a sheet cake underneath to make up for that.  Here is the cake all ready to go.

The cap itself was made up of 2 cakes - top was from half of the Wilton sports pan and the bottom was a 6 inch round.  They fit perfectly on top of each other and the only carving I needed to do was at the back to make it look like the 'material' was folded in.  I covered the whole thing in navy blue fondant and used my PME quilting tool to make the stitches, mimicking the real stitches on the actual cap.

The brim of the cap was made a few days in advance with fondant mixed with a bit of gum tex so it would dry hard.  I made a template using the real cap and copied that onto the fondant.  (Do make sure to check that the part of the template where the brim meets the cap body fits snugly around your 6 inch cake pan, you may have to adjust it a little.) 

To give the brim a curved look I rested the fondant template onto a kitchen towel roll insert.  You can use anything you have to make it curve.  I also added a small piece of cardboard underneath the fondant to give it some support whilst it was drying.  Alternatively, you can leave the brim flat.  Again I made stitches following the real cap using the quilting tool.  It really is a handy tool to have in your cake decorating kit!  The eyelets were made using a Wilton tip 12 to get the outer ring and the back of a paintbrush for the hole.

Assembling the cake was very straightforward.  I used large straws inserted into the bottom cake under the cap to hold it up.  I also used a straw under the brim as it was not completely dry and needed a bit of support.  For the star border I used a Wilton tip 21 as the sheet cake was fairly large - 12 inches!  For the writing, I used a Wilton tip 3.

The 'V' initial was drawn free-hand onto cardboard then traced onto fondant and cut out.

His mum was really pleased with the cake and so was the birthday boy.  Always a good thing! :)