Cooper is Spencer's younger brother. Spencer is my lovey boyfriend of three years. He also is a HUGE help with the business, specifically as the driver. If you get a cake from me, more than likely, you will meet Spencer. If it is personally delivered that is. Anyways, Cooper is very musically talented, and his parents asked me to make him a cake for his 13th birthday. I knew immediately what to do. The current cake of my career was born.
This cake was to be large and in charge. The piano itself was as large as my torso! It cost $80.30 just for SUPPLIES. The piano piece of this piano-guitar duo was the cake part, and then I was going to try my hand at rice krispie molding for the guitar, which was modeled after his Les Paul. I made the design decision to make the baby grand white after seeing that his guitar was maroon...black with that would have just been too dark.
I started by baking the cakes (there were only two) and making the base forms, as you can see here:
As you can see, the piano base is foam core, and then there is a smaller guide of foam core and a dowel rod for the guitar. Once the cake was placed onto the base a copper pipe was secured onto the guitar board so that I could screw it into the piece I glued onto the cake board. Perfect.
The construction of this cake took close to 40 hours...and that honestly might be an understatement. I think it might be best to do the picture line up now, and kinda explain that way.
Here is the piano as I was working on it. I had it up on the box so that I could keep it stable and work on the legs. Yes, it was a tripod, and yes, it held beautifully. You can see the hole where the guitar was to fit. I hope that you can see the pearlization of it. It was airbrushed with white luster dust mixed with vodka.
These keys are made from modeling chocolate, and they took FOREVER to make. Each white key is notched. Not just cut straight down, but NOTCHED into them. Individually. Note for next time: make the black keys taller.
Each guitar detail was made from modeling chocolate and, as you'll see of the finished cake, brushed with the appropriate metallic luster. I used this wax paper cut out as my guide.
Close up of the guitar body. The strings were piped chocolate, and you can see the end of the screw part. Yes, the switch does have the words printed on, and yes, the paint job got a touch up on site.
My most favorite picture of the whole thing. This picture is now the homepage picture. I LOVE how well the sheet music turned out. This makes the cake almost look a little steam-punk to me. I am very proud of this.
Two early keyboard shots. As a pianist myself, I used to always love left-to-right keyboard shots, so I thought it was only right that I give my own piano this opportunity. Unfortunately it tends to show some of it's flaws. But mistakes are really lessons if you learn from them, right?
And finally, the zoomed out picture of the final product on site. I wish I had taken final measurements, but it was without a doubt pushin 3 feet tall, possibly exceeding it. Unfortunately we had some BIG problems with the guitar--it did not want to screw in correctly and the neck bar peeled away from the foam core which resulted in that wonky angle that you see. Also, cereal treats are NOT as easy to work with as they make it look. I will definitely be practicing more with those haha.
But the real kicker was behind the scenes. I had a quick cake due that same day. The basketball sheet with cupcakes was it. Simple, but a hassle because I didn't get the order until crunch time for this cake. I pulled an all-nighter Friday night, that's for sure.
Bottom line: both birthday boys were ecstatic with their cakes. And I was exhausted, but VERY proud and happy of my accomplishments. Even more excited to do a wedding cake! Now I just need an order for one... ;D
Until next time!