Learn How To .. Make A Person Into A Cake

This is Gia.  She is a woman who volunteers her time to the local fire department and who is leaving this week for boot camp.  Her mom contacted me to do a cake for her going away party.  And I was so honored to have been a part of this special occasion.

This was the first time I have sculpted a cake of a person and I was surprised how little information there was out there on how to do it.  I have taken a number of classes on sculpting cakes and building cake structures .. just none for people.  So I did the best I could and now I will share that with you.

The first thing I did was to create templates for the side and front views of a person.  I found some pictures on the internet and increased the size until I had a figure large enough to create the number of servings I needed.  

Then I had my husband build the structure.  We used wooden dowels and sanded pine.  Next time I would really use pipe and flange ... I just thought that was overkill but the stability would have made me feel better.  Especially if I made this cake any bigger.

To come up with the measurements I used a copy of my template and places plates at least every 6 inches and then added dowels to support the plates within the framework of my cake.  I made sure to have a center dowel to keep the whole thing straight.  This dowel went through 3 pieces of wood glue together so there was minimal movement.  

I covered the 3 wood plates at the bottom with cereal treats to form the boots.  Then I covered the treats in royal icing to make them smooth.

Next came the cake.  I added layers of cake and icing, making sure to have more than I needed so I could sculpt away.

While the cake was in the freezer, I sculpted the head from modeling chocolate.  Then I went back and made her head from a cereal treat covered in modeling chocolate for the weight and stability.

Once the cake was fozen, I sculpted.  I used my templates to help me get the general shape and then I just made adjustments using my own image of the human body.  This photo was after my first pass.  I took her back out and sculpted some more  because I thought her hips looked uneven and too large.  When she was done I iced her.  When I do this type of cake again, I will be sure to sculpt her to be much thinner than I want her because the buttercream and fondant built her up way more than I expected (I knew it would happen but was expecting it to be less noticeable) and made her a bit chubby.  

Next I made the boots out of gumpaste.  I later dusted them with cocoa powder to make them look worn. (These are my favorite part of the cake!!!)

I dressed her with fondant and then created the camo using a combination of airbrushing and sponging.  (I can't say I am 100% happy.)  Then I added her head and facial details and her hair.

I was pretty happy .. and I hope Gia was too!