Thursday, July 21, 2011

Motocross Cake

 My husband was getting a little tired of all the pink and flowery cakes.  He was very excited to see the latest request, which fits into a category that he calls "man cakes."  I was way out of my element on this cake, so I appreciated his willingness to help.

As I planned out the cake, deciding I would make the cake look like three stacked tires with a bike on top, we determined we were going to build an edible motocross bike.  This is insanity!  My husband is an engineer, and does very well with crunching numbers.  We bought a toy bike similar to the one we made and he used that to base all of the numbers.  He created a template for each piece.  We then cut out/shaped each piece individually.  Note:  It is crucial that you make pieces exact in order that they all fit together properly.  Ours were close enough that we were able to make it work.  We were using mostly edible glue to put everything together.  It wasn't drying fast enough and some items were to heavy to be held up till dry.  This is where I truly fell in love with royal icing.  It all came together (eventually).  We used edible markers for the details.  It was for a 29th birthday, so we put that number on the bike.

I believe this was a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Chocolate frosting base is a must for black frosting.  Much easier to go from brown to black than white to black.  Three 10" cakes were stacked a little off center and carved to have a rounded look on the exterior.  Then I frosted the tires and came back with a basket weave tip (using the smooth side out) to add the treads.  I saved some of the chocolate frosting as is for mud around the base and the top, added some crushed graham crackers for gravel.  Finally, the grass.  I bought the grass tip specifically for this cake.  Very much enjoyed using it.

I was very thankful to get this one out the door and to its destination.  I don't think I will ever make an edible motocross bike again.  But, one should never say never.

10 comments:

  1. hi .. I would like an info. what are the procedures, the steps to make this cake? thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ileana,
      The cake itself was not too much of a challenge. The difficult part came in making that motocross bike. I prefer to keep my cakes completely edible (except for structural support), but if I ever made this cake again, I think I would top it with a toy :).

      The cake is 3 10" round cakes stacked (not centered). I rounded the edges a bit. Covered the cake with frosting and added the studs of the tires with a flat tip (I think I used the smooth side of a basket weave tip). I added brown frosting to the top center and along the base. Last minute, I added some crushed graham crackers to give it a gravel look. Used the grass tip for the grass.

      My husband had created a template (which he threw away, ugh!) for each individual piece of the cake and after the pieces were dried we put them together with royal icing. The difficulty came when doubles of the same piece didn't match up exactly right. The black and some of the blue was added with edible markers at the end.

      Let me know if you have more specific questions. I'd love to help!

      Delete
    2. Hello,such a beautiful cake, how can i have one made for my 2 year old grandson SJ,HIS BIRTHDAY IS NOVEMBER 30

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello, I want to try and make this cake for my husband. Can I ask how you made the frosting?
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For this cake, I used the standard class buttercream (Wilton website) for the decorating. I made it a chocolate frosting ( saving some back for the green grass). Leaving some brown for the dirt, I colored the rest black. It required a LOT of food coloring. I'm sure mouths were not so pretty after biting into this cake. I used some graham cracker crumbs at the end to give the dirt a more textured look. Hope that answers your question. Ask for visiting my blog!

      Delete
  4. Hi, are you in Australia and how can I go about getting a smaller version of this cake made? I am in Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish I was in Australia! I live in Minnesota, U.S. if you fly me to Australia, I'll make you any cake you want ;).

      Delete
  5. Googling cakes for my brother and came across this!! Am going to give it a go at the weekend. With plastic toy topped. Looks fabulous!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm making this cake for a friends son's graduation party this weekend. But the bike will be a toy..But you rock making it edible.. You go girl!!!

    ReplyDelete