Birdhouse Cake

This cake was for the same 90 year old man as the crossword cake - for the same day!  That was a lot of cake to get together in a short time.  I was given a birdhouse that the man had made, and I was to create an edible replica.

This cake was very similar in structure to the Barn Cake.  Ahead of time I made the "logs" and roof out of a fondant/gumpaste mixture.  I had colored them a light tan.  I also made the base and the birds ahead of time.  For the base I had a few pieces of cardboard glued together with a few extra pieces on each end.  I covered the entirety in fondant/gumpaste and added the lines and texture.  For the birds, I created a head/body out of rice crispy treats and covered that in fondant/gumpaste.  I started with the same tan as I did for the "wood".  When they had dried a bit, I painted with gel food coloring and lemon extract. 

I used 2 9x13 cakes that I had cut into two pieces each (not right down the middle, but rather to get my desired size for the bottom portion of the cake).  The smaller pieces that were left were used to form the roof.  This was a chocolate cake with almond frosting. 

Once the cake was stacked correctly, I began stacking the logs around the exterior.  I used a combination of royal icing and edible glue to hold them together in place.  I placed the roof and front and back top pieces on.  I cut out some black squares for windows which were painted with some piping gel to give them a glossy look.  I cut a few more pieces of the wood toned fondant/gumpaste to place around each window.  Then I cam back and painted the entire cake with brown food coloring and lemon extract.  I liked how the food coloring sat in the deep grooves to help the texture stand out.

Final touches, I added the birds and a screw to the front of the house (just like the original house).