A Family Cake

This is a cake that I made in May for a large family celebration.  Five members of the family were celebrating their birthdays and I was asked to make a cake for them all to share which showed them enjoying some of their hobbies and interests.  It was quite a project and the modelling alone took several days.

The basic cake was constructed in three tiers – a rich fruit cake, a vanilla madeira and a chocolate madeira.  I used a mini version of the spiral technique used on the Spiral Piano Cake to create the path for the hiker.

All the figures and their accessories were made of sugar modelling paste.

‘Gran’ was relaxing in the chocolate hot tub on the top of the cake.  Gran rather likes nice hats and also has her rubber duck, towel and slippers with her.  All these items and the bubbles were made from sugar modelling paste.

‘Grandad’ is a very keen gardener and often wears green, a hat and sandals.  He loves his greenhouse (which was made from sheets of gelatine and sugar modelling paste and was the only non-vegetarian item on the cake) with his tomato plants inside.  He also has a trug of vegetables from his garden, his watering can and plant pots of flowers – all made of sugar modelling paste.

‘Mum’ likes to walk (and garden too).  She is heading down the hill towards the garden and her picnic (complete with thermos flask, sandwiches, tomato and apple).  She is often seen in a green bobble hat and has a bright orange rucksack.  She likes to identify all the flowers and birds on her walks so has her binoculars around her neck.  There are some friendly sheep on her walk today!  All made from sugar modelling paste.

‘Dad’ plays golf.  He has his golf bag and clubs with him and I also made him a small bunker (sugar paste and brown sugar), golf ball and flag.

The son is a keen white-water canoeist.  I incorporated the river into the cake design by making the hot tub overflow.  The river is sugarpaste with royal icing and sugarpaste rocks.  The character and his canoe and paddle are all made from sugar modelling paste.  I was really pleased with the way the canoe fitted into the design as the son battles to keep the canoe upright at the bottom of the waterfall.

Any of the elements of this cake could be used to create a lovely novelty cake for a hobby. I really enjoyed the challenge of creating a design which included them all.