Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

What a great movie. Brings back such good childhood memories of watching it on TV with my big sisters. Last weekend I made a cake with the Wizard of Oz theme. I was cruising the photo gallery on Cake Central and saw one using a sheet cake as the yellow brick road and got my inspiration from that wonderful cake. I took some photos of it in progress to share with you some of the techniques I used.

Taylor's Wizard of Oz cake.



I made a paper template of the shape I wanted the cake to be and used that to cut the shape from a 12x16 sheet cake.


Then it was filled and crumb coated.



I wanted to show you guys how airless my icing is. This batch was made 3 days ahead of time, covered in plastic wrap on the surface, and kept in a plastic container at room temp. (If you want to see a clip of me making my icing, look here.)


The fondant was colored yellow and a some powdered tylose was added to help it firm up. I rolled it out and then used my brick impression mat over it. I used the same paper template that I cut the cake with to cut out the fondant. I let it sit there for a good 20 minutes or so to firm up, so that when I transferred it to the cake it would not stretch or distort.


Top piece applied to the cake.


I then cut a long strip of fondant (long enough to go around entire cake) and rolled it up bandage style.


The sides of the cake were dampened with water, and the bandage unrolled around the cake and smoothed in place. I then trimmed it level with the top of the "bricks" with an exacto knife.


I applied pieces of green fondant around the perimeter of the road to make grass. I made a seam in the front that would later be covered by flowers. I put a 21 star tip on my finger (much like a thimble) and stippled the entire surface of the green fondant to mimic grass.


The rainbow was an edible icing sheet that was put on fondant and allowed to dry firm for a few days. That was attached to the back of the cake with some melted chocolate.


The lollipops were made ahead also, and sucker sticks glued to the back. I stuck the sucker sticks down into the fondant and secured them in place with melted chocolate. I propped them in place until the chocolate firmed up.


After they were secure, I covered the chocolate with a little more "grass".


The shoes were white chocolate tinted red and made in a 3D mold. Here they are right out of the mold.

I cleaned up the seams, added a fondant bow and painted them with piping gel.


A skewer in the bottom let me rotate them without messing them up with my hands as I sprinkled red disco dust all over them. (Be advised that while disco dust is non toxic, it is not truly considered food safe.)


The ruby slippers. I'll get them, my pretty!


I'm meltiiiiiingggg.....
The hat and broom were hand modeled from fondant. A little puddle of green royal icing serves as the melted wicked witch. (She scared the bejeebers out of me.....you?)

I had a good time making this cake. None of the techniques are particularly difficult, just a little time consuming. I hope you have a chance to try it one day! Send me a pic if you do!


Happy Caking!
Sharon

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the tips and hints on this cake Sharon! It looks terrific.

Unknown said...

Sharon, you are just the coolest person ever. You have the greatest techniques on how to do stuff. The cake is fabulous (I had no doubt it would be)

L said...

Sharon, that is so awesome and the OZ is one of my favorite movies. Such a cute cake.

Anonymous said...

This cake is so adorable Sharon!!
I just love the melted witch!

Thank you for sharing!!

Chris said...

OMG!!--That is the coolest sheet cake i've seen in such a long time! I loved it from start to finsih, seriously i wnat to do a cake like this solely to make the slippers they are the best.

Question though how deep are your sheet pans I can never seem to get that right. If I do one layer people say they are to small and if I do a double they are to big. What's a boy to do? Can you help...pppplease!

Chris- South TX

Anonymous said...

This is such a cute cake and lots of fun going on! Thanks for sharing the step-by-steps. I now understand the edge thing!!! I love the ruby red slippers! I must find that shoe mold! And the melted witch is great. (yes, she is scary!!)

SharonG said...

Beautiful Cake! Sharon cake is so prefect, crisp and clean cut, as all your cakes are. Thank You! so much for sharing, tips, recipes, photos and your warm hearted stories with us. I have to agree with Natasha, you do have the greatest techniques on how to do stuff.

I have LOVED this movie ever since seeing it as a little girl. Only when I became older did I LOVE it for it's meaning...

Nichicakes said...

Fan-fricken-tastic lady! That is just so cute!

Anonymous said...

Great job, Sharon!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely fantastic... like always!!

SugarEd Productions said...

Thanks ya'll!

Chris when I do a sheet cake I bake it a little over the top of the cake pan. when it comes out of oven I take a clean towel and push down the cake flat with top of pan so there is no hump. Then I do not have to level it. Then if you torte and fill it, it will be even a little higher. HTH!

Dawn said...

This is great. I don't remember seeing the cake before. Glad I found this post!!

Jennywenny said...

WOW! You are amazing! What beautiful fondant work! Thanks for sharing...

KathyY said...

Hey Sharon! Wow, this Wizard of Oz cake seems like a whole new style for you. It doesn't look like anything you have done before and it is amazing. Your design is so unique. I just love what you did with it. Thanks for sharing your techniques.

Snooky doodle said...

wow this is wonderful !

cak said...

My little girl chose the "Wizard of Oz' for her birthday theme this year, how did you create the rainbow?

Jacque said...

Dude!! That is an awesome cake and how-to! You make everything look so easy.

Anonymous said...

Sharon,
You just don't know how very much I appreciate your sharing with us! What a blessing you are. The cake is as cute as it can be!!

Unknown said...

WOW ! THANK YOU for SHARING Sharon !!

Anonymous said...

Sharon, I keep thinking that you can't top yourself anymore...and then you do! This is such a great work of art and as one of your "wanna-bees", many thanks for the great tutorial.

Cakespy said...

This is amazing!

Lisa said...

Wonderful job! Beautifully detailed!

Kathy said...

Sharon, Beautiful cake. Do you remember where you purchased that large brick impression mat? Also it looks like you taped the mat down on your counter? Does this help with keeping the design even, etc? Thanks.