Working on with three(3D) dimensional cakes is always a challenge in the kitchen. It requires planning and many recipe testings on which cake fits the type of figure I am making. Cake making is real engineering. It is not just about taste and presentation but also it's stability. Have you ever tried a 3d cake? It is fun and challenging. You may watch the video below too!
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Thanks to google images because it makes cake decorating much easier. In the old days, you will need to be fancy and detailed on sketching and drawing. You get different poses or angles of this Panda figure online. You may also try drawing it yourself if you feel like tweaking it. Enlarging the photo or scaling it to a bigger or smaller size that you feel is fit for your project. Using an X-acto knife with a crafting pad or a pair scissors to cut out the figure. At this point you, colors are visually clear on what you color you will need for your fondant clay to cover the figure with.
Start preparing hollow stainless pans that will complete your cake layers for the panda's body. These are simply mixing bowls . You will have to glue with shortening this cut out parchment base onto each bowl and grease again on top just so it was easier peel of the paper after cake has been baked and cooled.
Life is easier if you use tin foil to line the bowls as well. It is pliable and bendable, foil too is an option. Grease bottom and top as well just to make sure you are able to depan the cake layers.
There are a number of great chocolate batters but this recipe in particular is the best to use. Our chocolate cakes are also available in our classes like (Bakery Entrepreneurship Course I/ Dessert Buffet/ 1-on-1 Classes). Liquids are added to the dry ingredients. Whisked until smooth. I also made basic vanilla cake to make the project fun and whimsical. You may do assorted flavors especially if you are making it for kids!
Chocolate Layer Cake
Vanilla Layer Cake
Pour over blended chocolate cake batter on to prepare pans or tin bowls, filling them just before the rim.
Using your mittens or kitchen gloves, remove baked cooks and completely cool before removing from the pans or bowls. After so, invert all bowls, peel off foil or parchments and place cakes on cake racks while preparing other components of the project.
Rolled fondant or edible clay has quite a number of versions but using perfect ratio and proper mixing and kneading also is the secret. We teach 100% hands-on in all our classes, some students prefer our BAKING CLINIC that gives them ample time and less pressure on learning recipes like such. Cake decorating requires time and a lot of creativity and inspiration. Rolled fondant is used to cast aged cakes in the old days and now people have become fancy on using intricate patterns and designs on their cakes especially wedding and special occasion cakes . It is real workout but revealing when you have achieved a smooth and pliable paste, you are then set to making endless genres of your cakes. LEARN ABOUT OUR CLASSES HERE.
The fun part is stacking the cakes. Assembly requires cake boards on the very bottom and I used another 5 inch round board covered with tin foil to stack in between layers with drinking straws snipped on poked onto the cake layers to make this sturdy. You may also use pasta noodle. Brushing layers with syrup is also a good way to even moisten the cakes but not too much hence it will make it soggy that may cause the project to collapse. Each layer is smeared with Italian Buttercream.
Folding the arms of the template makes it easier to trim the figure.
This is the part where you can get playful. Crumb coat the stacked cake layers with our blend of Italian Buttercream ( LEARN ABOUT OUR CLASSES HERE ) and chill the cake for about 30 minutes before covering with the edible clay.
