Baked a Cake

What cake do you make to celebrate a landscape-loving drummer's 40th birthday? A snare drum made to look like a tree stump of course! 

I used to work with Corey's (the aforementioned landscape-loving drummer) wife Gill (the super talented owner of Autumn Kisses Floral Design) when I first moved to Newcastle. Gill and I were planning a recent styled shoot (more details on that coming later) when she asked if I would make Corey's cake - I of course said yes. 

I covered the cake, a peanut butter, chocolate mud cake, in fondant and then set about scoring it every which way to mimic the bark of a tree stump. I then used my airbrush to colour the fondant. I trimmed the edges and coated them with metallic silver lustre to match the casings. I then grated fondant and scattered it on the board to act as the leaf litter under the tree. I also made the drumsticks by marbling different shades of fondant together - hello wood grain.  

Quite possible my favourite part of the cake was the drum skin. I decided to recreate the Pork Pie Percussion logo (the brand of Corey's drum kit) for the birthday message. I hand painted the lettering - how cool is the pig! 

Gill's reaction when I delivered the cake was brilliant. Seeing happy clients when they see your work is the best reward. 

Happy birthday Corey. Hope you had a great night celebrating :)