First I baked one 12X18 inch chocolate cake and one 12X18 inch white almond sour cream cake. You can use any flavor you like. You will need a crusting buttercream to frost the cakes. Then I cut each one in half. Place the first half of the chocolate cake on a cake board and frost the top. Then place the second half on top and frost the top of it. Do this with the white cake as well except place the cake on a smaller cake board (this will allow the cake to be trimmed into the shape of a tree stump). Before stacking the white cake on top of the chocolate, you will need to put support tubes in the chocolate cake. Do this by placing a support tube into the cake and cut it off even with the top of the cake. You will need 4 support tubes in the bottom layer. You will need to keep the supports under where the upper cake board will rest on the chocolate cake. Once you have placed the support tubes in the cake, place a small circle of wax paper on top as a separator between the two cakes. Now stack the white cake on top of the chocolate cake. You are now ready to carve the cake into the shape of a tree stump. Keep the parts you carve off to put around the bottom as tree roots. Cover the entire cake with a crumb coat (thin layer of frosting). This will keep cake crumbs from getting into the top layer of frosting. Let the frosting set until it crusts slightly. Now you can apply the second layer of frosting. Once applied, allow it to crust slightly. Now take a fork and scratch the icing slightly to create a "bark" effect into the icing. Once this step is completed, airbrush with a thin coat of forest green, harvest yellow, a very light spray of red and a light spray of silver pearl dust. Cut or mold your 3-D figures and place around the tree stump.First I baked one 12X18 inch chocolate cake and one 12X18 inch white almond sour cream cake. You can use any flavor you like. You will need a crusting buttercream to frost the cakes. Then I cut each one in half. Place the first half of the chocolate cake on a cake board and frost the top. Then place the second half on top and frost the top of it. Do this with the white cake as well except ... Read full instructions »Difficulty:
This was one tier dark chocolate fudge cake and one layer white almond sour cream cake with american buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant 3-D figures (Baby, blanket, mushrooms, leaves, flowers and ladybugs). The buttercream was scratched with a fork and then airbrushed with food gels diluted in clear vanilla extract.
What was your inspiration?
My step-daughter's friend was having a "Baby RealTree" Baby Shower and only asked that I make something that would be in that type of theme. She really loved what I came up with.
What are you most proud of?
This was my first time ever using my airbrush, so I was very nervous. I was very pleased with the final results.
What advice would you give someone starting this project?
If you are a beginner, do a little reading. There are lots of places to get info on cake decorating on the internet. You can get info here from craftsy, cakecentral.com, on Facebook at Sugar Teachers, and I also have a blog for newbies called cakenewbies.blogspot.com. The more you study the art of it, the easier time you will have doing it, and the more you will enjoy doing it. Believe me, if you don't it can become very stressful and frustrating, and that takes all the fun out of it.
I would just change the baby blankets to blue and maybe add a miniature bow and arrows with blue feathers. Or maybe a little blue toy truck or blocks with the name of the baby.
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