grav_ity: (cake)
gravity.not.included ([personal profile] grav_ity) wrote2013-02-09 06:57 pm

So I Made A Cake!

Apologies for how long this took. I don't even have a good reason.

Cut for an excessive amount of pictures.

So this cake. It was the most ambitious cake I've ever attempted. I bought a new pan and everything. It's possible I went entirely overboard, but I had a LOT of fun, so I think it was worth it.

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Here we are! The base is its own layer in a jellyroll pan, and then the rest is a trimmed round layer cake (on its side, obviously), and a square cake trimmed to extend the length. And a crap tonne of chocolate icing, obviously. At this point, it's basically held together by icing and a prayer. And, like, a MILLION wooden stakes.

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A top view, stakes included. Note the incredible detail on the icing, which I definitely did with a ziplock bag.

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Here it is with the front nearly finished. We have kitkats, a digestive cookie dipped in green chocolate, a gum drop, white chocolate covered graham crackers, licorice nibs (cut in half), and the windows...well lets give them their own photo.

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The windows! Which caused me pain. Basically, I took a bunch of oreos, split them in half until I managed not to break two, rolled the edges in green chocolate, painted the white with yellow food coloring, pressed on a lattice pretzel, stuck on the cake, and seal with icing and licorice nibs for bricks. Not the right shape, but CLOSE. ENOUGH.

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The door! It's totally cracked because I'm a moron, but you can't really tell.

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Better shot of the front, with the chimney visible. It's super awkward and not dark enough, but it did the job.

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And here it is with the grass on! I love that grass icing tip SO MUCH. Also, this was the Cake of Hidden Pretzels. I used pretzels for everything. Like, for example, the lantern. Which, I don't want to brag, but that is a squared off gumdrop HANGING FROM A CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZEL that I managed to break in EXACTLY THE RIGHT WAY. It might actually be my favourite part of the whole thing.

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Here we all are at the dinner party! I didn't really get the rosebushes photographed, but they (and the wildflowers on the top) were the finishing touches.

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Aided by The Owlet, I cut the cake, taking special care to avoid the 1,000,000 stakes that are holding it up.

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The Scouring of the Shire. Cut from the movie, but first in my heart (and, on this occasion, stomach).

In conclusion, it ended up not looking much like The Actual Bag End, but I think I captured the spirit of the thing. Also: delicious.

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