Spartan Military Cake

Is this your project? Can you share instructions or a pattern with the Craftsy community?

Difficulty:

Category: Cake Decorating

Type of item: Food

For: Men

Style: Military

Materials

Cake recipe for Chocolate, Chocolate Chip cake, vanilla buttercream, fondant, gumpaste, gel food colours, cake board, various cutters and techniques.

What was your inspiration?

A friend requested a special cake for her husband on his 40th birthday. His two main passions in life are the Canadian Military and challenging himself athletically. He had recently run a very lengthy marathon which was more than just a footrace. This race, called Spartan, involves many obstacles and very challenging barriers to overcome. You have to be in top shape to compete successfully in this race, and this amazing man came in 5th. One of the obstacles was jumping over fire. The flames on the cake depict this accomplishment, and the red 'helmet' is in the shape of the Spartan Helmet depicted on the Medallion given to the participants.

What are you most proud of?

That I was able to combine his two main passions in life as smoothly as I did.

What advice would you give someone starting this project?

Freeze your cake layers prior to staking them. It makes it much easier to carve out the shape of the cake. Wait until the cakes are thawed to cover them with fondant. Also, make the flames and the helmet a couple of days ahead so that they are perfectly dry prior to attaching them to the cake. I make an edible glue using gumpaste powder mix and piping gel. It dries as hard as cement.