Lightning McQueen Cake, Final "cut" :)

Another side view of the lightning bolt...

Adding 95 to the sides

Adding the Rust-Eze spoiler on the back, and the start of the Rust-Eze logo on the hood...

Pulling it ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL together...

Ta-Da!


This was a fun cake to make. I'm really proud that I was able to accomplish this in about 6 hours of total work. The detail work is really what makes the cake- in my opinion. The best thing about it was that while I was working on it this afternoon, #1 knew exactly who it was. "That's lighting aqueen mama!" sigh... I love him... and I can't wait for us to cut into it. I'm drinking a celebretory Dogfish Head 90 minute and mentally patting myself on the back. Not gonna lie, it feels really good to do this. And to see #1 light up after seeing it finished. way way cool.

Lightning McQueen take FOUR

I'm going to have to do this on a couple of posts.. and get Flickr set up so I don't run into this problem again. But- here are the next 5 steps... It's all just detail work from here on out.

lights, lightning bolts, windows and red accents on tires.

rear view....

Eyes...

Lightning Bolts on sides and 95 on top... more discussion on this below


ok, I should have started to paint the details at this point. The color gradation on the number 95 and on the lightning bolts on the sides. Also on the eyes too, but I had some blue fondant to use so I went that route. I didn't have a few tools necessary to make that happen- a fine paint brush and vodka... and all the powder color for the lightning bolts. So I ended up just mixing yellow, orange and red fondant and rolling it out. It did the job, but didn't look amazing.

Lightning McQueen take THREE and more cinn roll's

The never ending cake! Actually, Wubbzy was the never ending cake, this one has been a pleasant experience so far!
I have some errands to run this a.m. in preparation for #1's bday so I only got to do a tiny bit this a.m...
And also make some Cinnamon Rolls! I made GIANT Cinnabon style ones and they were good. If i do say so myself ;)


cream cheese frosting.. so so good!



Down to business. First, I used a cooke cutter and punched out the wheel wells...
Side note- I tasted the red fondant for the first time at this point. And, it was good! seriously, it tasted really good.



Then, I used some of the scrap cake I had left over from the large 9x13 cake and punched out the tires....



And then apparently I forgot to take pictures of what I did next- but I rolled out black fondant and covered the tires and placed them in the wheel wells. Next I rolled out white fondant for the windshield/eyes and his smile...



And now it's time to ski-daddle.... so back in the freezer he goes and off to errands I go! more soon...

Lightning McQueen Take TWO

So, the frosting was getting hard on the cake and I rolled out the red fondant. I bought it pre-made for a couple of reasons. Yes, I know how to make my own fondant now and it tastes better than the pre-made stuff I had used before (the stuff I bought at Joanns or Michael's...) BUT getting the white fondant a true red is so hard and time consuming. I was willing to fork over the dough to buy it made- it was worth the $20 for 2 lbs of it. I found a cake bakers supply shop on my way home from work so I picked it up the other day. It is the same brand used on the show "Cake Boss".

Let me just say- I was pleasantly surprised. It was soft, moist, pliable and a true red. So, I rolled it out, took the cake out of the freezer....



...rolled the fondant onto my rolling pin and then unrolled it on top of the cake. I only have 2 hands so I couldn't take pictures of this process. It went ok... I need practice and perhaps a lighter rolling pin. Plus I need to get better at knowing what thickness to achieve when laying the fondant on a sculpted cake...



I smoothed it out on top of the cake, and believe me there were some cracks and tears. I waited too long before I rolled it ON the cake and this stuff dries out quickly. Also, because I rolled some spots out too thinly, it tore. More lessons learned ;) I also learned a trick- to smooth out and shine the fondant use Crisco. yeah, another use for good ol' Crisco!


So, I'm gonna call it a night. I'm beat and The next steps are going to be a lot harder and time consuming. It's almost midnight and I did A TON today... Bakery, #1's birthday shirt, sewed some buttons (yah, swear!), finally decorated Moochies room (I'll put pictures up later), wrapped #1's gifts, made dinner, made Oma's bday cake, and now this. It's been a LOOOOONG day... g'night!