Louis Vuitton Designer Handbag Cake (How to Make)

📋Supplies Required

• Butter pound cake – Two layers of 7 inches square cakes (measuring approximately 2 inches high each)
• Buttercream – To fill and to crumb coat the cake.
• Fondant – To cover the entire cake and for the pearl necklace. I used Satin Ice in white and ivory for most parts. For others, I used brown and peach food coloring to tint white fondant. You can also make your own fondant if you wish.
• Gum paste – I used white Satin Ice gum paste and tinted it Ivory (with Wilton ivory food color ) to make the scarf on the cake.
• LV edible print – Three pieces of A4 sized Louis Vuitton logo prints for the handbag. These can be ordered from a local edible image supplies store or an online store. (You may want to order an extra sheet for contingency)
• Edible gold dust + lemon extract – Mixed to make gold paint for all the gold metal parts of the handbag.
• Wilton Ivory, Peach and Brown gel colors.
• Cake decorating brush – To paint the leopard spots on the scarf (medium tipped).
• Fondant stitch tool – To imprint the stitch marks on the handbag.
• Dental floss & needle – To make and string the fondant pearl necklace.
• Sugarcraft knife + pizza cutting wheel – General cutting tools used throughout the project.
• Fondant glue

Step 1: Bake and Carve the Cake

Bake two 7 inches square cakes with each cake measuring approximately 2 inches high. Cut each layer into 2, making 4 blocks of cake, each measuring 7 inches by 3.5 inches each. 

Next, level the layers and stack them, with buttercream in between each layer.

Carve the top portion of the cake such that the top long edges of the cake are rounded and look like the body of a handbag.

Step 2: Attach the LV Edible Image

Once the carving is complete, clean the cake of all loose crumbs. Apply a thin coat of buttercream all over the cake and cover it in rolled ivory fondant. You can do this with 3 pieces - 1 large piece to cover the main body of the handbag, from base to base. The other 2 pieces to cover the 2 smaller opposite sides of the bag.

After that, attach the edible LV image sheets. Use one piece for the front and one for the back. And cut the 3rd sheet into 2 and attach it to both sides of the bag cake. To attach the edible images, applying a light brush to water onto the fondant and gently lay the images over from one end all the way to the other. This will help avoid air bubbles from being trapped.

Step 3: Add the Fondant Seams

To make the seams, use the extruder tool to pipe out the medium sized ivory strips. Carefully attach these to the edges of the handbag using fondant glue. The seams are at the base as well as on the sides of the handbag cake.

Step 4: Add the Bag Zipper

For the zipper, manually cut out a rectangle piece of brown fondant. Attach it to the handbag cake with some fondant glue. Use the stitch tool to imprint the stitch marks on both sides.

Next, roll out some white fondant into a long piece. Cut it out into a thin strip. Using the pizza cutting wheel, mark the lines for the zipper. And then attach it to the handbag cake with glue. Paint the white part of the zipper with the gold edible paint.

Step 5: Make the Bag Handles

Next are the bag handles. Start with the gold square parts first. Cut them out free hand with the sugar craft knife, smooth the sides, and paint them gold.

After that, put them aside until the paint dries. While waiting, cut out the hexagon pieces and shape the handles. Use the stitch tool to make the stiches on the edges. To assemble, attach the hexagon pieces first and then attach the gold parts.

In attaching these, make sure the hexagon pieces are slightly longer on the top. This is so that you can fold that extra bit around the gold pieces. After that, add the handles. To make the handles, shape long fondant sausages and flatten the ends. Use a stitch tool to mark the stitching lines along the sides.

And similar to the hexagon pieces, fold the flattened ends around the gold cutouts. And that completes the handbag cake.

Step 6: Paint Leopard Prints on the Scarf

To make the scarf, use white gum paste and tint it ivory. And then roll it as thin as possible and paint the leopard prints on the scarf.

Here is an illustration on how to paint the leopard spots:

Start with the ivory paint. Use a clean cake decorating brush, dip the tip into the ivory food color and then dip it lightly in water. Use the brush and paint a round spot as shown below. The spot does not have to be perfectly round.

Next, dip the brush into brown food color. And then dip it lightly in water. Add a stroke of 'C' on one side of the ivory spot, then another one on the opposite.

Once the painting is completed, place the scarf of the handbag cake. Position it so that it is ruffled in the most natural position possible. To make sure the scarf remains in place, apply glue to the scarf where it is in contact with the bag and the cake board.

Step 7: Make the Fondant Pearl Necklace

The pearl necklace is literally beaded with fondant pearls using dental floss. To make the beads, pinch small pieces of white fondant and form them into smooth balls. The balls should be the size of pearls. String the dental floss into a clean sewing needle and poke the needle and the floss through each of the fondant pearls.

To complete the necklace, tie the ends of the dental floss together. Adjust the pearl beads so that one of the pearls cover the knot completely before placing the necklace on the cake. Position the necklace on the cake first. Once you are happy with the position, secure it in place with fondant glue.

And that completes the Louis Vuitton bag cake decoration.