This cake was for a friend's birthday. She was visiting me from New York. And then she was leaving on her birthday for Paris to meet her boyfriend and have a romantic week. So, I decided to make her a Paris-themed cake for her birthday.
My friend's name is Rachel Haymer and she is a profession musician and a life coach. She is a reiki healer and plays a mean ukulele. You can find her here:
It's a little-known fact that I actually used to live in Paris. I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was called to Paris, France. I spent a wonderful year and a half in the greater Paris area for the majority of that time. I served from 2006 to 2008. So, I just had this statue laying around the house that I used for reference.
I had baked three layers of vegan chocolate cake in a fabulous setable cake pan. These are 4" by 6" cakes. I filled them with raspberry jam and frosted the cake in dark chocolate ganache. My friend, Rachel, doesn't care for sweet too much, so that's why I chose the ganache.
Rachel helped me frost it because she wanted to practice frosting a cake. She did a pretty good job!
Then I rolled out some ivory fondant and cut panels about the size of the cake.
I laid the panels on.
After I had cut them to size measuring with a ruler.
Then I laid the fondant on the opposite side of the cake.
After trimming the long sides, I then laid the other two sides onto the cake.
And I trimmed them to be flush to the cake.
But there's a top missing. Rachel's favorite color is red. So, I covered the top of the cake with a panel of red fondant.
And trimmed it to be flush with the cake.
Pretty happy so far.
I wanted to put red polka dots around the cake, so I cut out a whole bunch of red polka dots.
I measured the sides of the cake with a ruler.
And then decided I wanted the monuments on the sides before I place the polka dots. Here I was going to make the Eiffel tower and then immediately realized it was way too tall.
So, I started again on a piece of black fondant already cut to size. I free-handed the shape. But, as a general rule, I cut a little box at the top and then tapered down in a triangle.
Then I rounded the curves of the triangle so they weren't quite so straight anymore.
Then I used a piping tip to mark a round arch at the bottom and cut it out.
As well as a trapezoid in the middle. Then I scored the Eiffel tower to have diagonal lines in it. Because, for those who have never seen the Eiffel tower in person, it is made up of steel beams in horizontal and diagonal positions.
Then I made another the same way.
I also made a general square and cut out an arch out of the middle to create the Arc de Triomphe.
Then I scored lines in the side of this as well to mimic the carvings in the monument.
Finally, I made Notre Dame de Paris. I made it by making a rectangle and cut out a square from the middle of the top.
Then I scored some of the details into the fondant.
I have to explain, though. I don't mean to hit an emotional chord by making Notre Dame on my friend's cake. To be honest, I make my cakes before I release the videos, and I made this one the day before Notre Dame caught fire. I included Notre Dame because I consider it iconic of Paris as a city and as a cultural icon. I had no idea that Notre Dame would catch fire the next day and burn to the ground. To reassure those who are very sad about that, myself included, Notre Dame survived two world wars... and not completely unscathed. It has been restored before and will be again. We just aren't used to things like this happening because it's not wartime for us in Western Europe right now. But restoration is possible. It is not lost forever.
Then I placed my monuments onto the sides of the cake.
The Eiffel tower was on both ends because the Eiffel tower is a clear icon of the city of love.
Here you can just make out the scoring on the Arc de Triomphe.
Then I cut out the letters for Paris.
And placed them on the top of the cake.
Then I used my clay extruder to make several thin lines of black fondant to cover the seams around the cake.
I also placed the polka dots in a semi-random pattern. They were meant to look kind of like red balloons in the sky.
In the end, I felt like it turned out lovely. I mean, corners and edges could be a bit straighter, but the overall effect works.
And I feel it is my kind of memorial to Notre Dame de Paris.
But, most importantly, it was my gift to my friend, Rachel, who celebrated her birthday with loved ones in Paris.
Happy Birthday, Rachel!
One nice thing about making a cake for us, I actually was able to get a picture of it cut open!
And yes, it was delicious.
Watch Rachel and I get silly on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/DrLQA_tTSFg
Schaut zu wie Rachel und ich lustig werden auf YouTube hier:
https://youtu.be/H1n3XO5Nfuc
Comments
Post a Comment