Barn Cake

 I was asked to make a replica of a bank barn...however I had no picture.  My friend described it the best that she could to her best recollection.  I was a little nervous as to whether it would meet her expectations seeings how there was an actual barn, a picture of the barn in her mind, and a transfer to my own.  She was very pleased with the final product.  I was thankful!

This cake was good practice for my piping skills.  I baked two 9 x 13 chocolate cakes.  I cut a rectangle out of each and then used the leftovers to stack on top to make the dome top.  I used more of the leftovers to create the bank.  The entire thing was filled and crumb coated.
The cupola was made ahead of time out of a gumpaste/fondant mix.  The tree trunk was made out of the same.  The tree was an experiment that caused a lot of frustration but turned out in the end.  There is a dowel that runs through the center for support.  The doors and windows were also cut out of my fondant/gumpaste mixture. 

I piped the white "wood" first using a basket weave tip with the smooth side out.  I added the windows and doors as I went.  I piped around the outside of the windows with some black royal icing and filled each with some piping gel to give it a glossy look.  I then came back and piped the stone at the bottom using a few sizes of round tips.  Finally the roof, using the same tip as I did for the wood work.


Now on to the tree.  I had the trunk (which was now pretty dry) standing upright with the help of a bowl and some Styrofoam. I piped on some green as a base and then added each individual leaf with a small leaf tip.  While it was very time consuming.  I truly loved this little tree.  Might have been my favorite part of the entire cake.

When I was finished I piped a LOT of green grass.  The board itself was a 1/2 sheet cake board, so I had a lot of grass to pipe.  But the green really helped the white barn pop out.  I sure like that #233 piping tip.