I made this tools cake for my brother in law's 31st birthday. His wife requested me to make a tools themed cake for her husband who was at that time, working in the construction industry.
The cake itself was a butter pound cake and I made a two-tier cake measuring 6 and 9 inches round. I covered the cake in chocolate butter icing and piped the border using chocolate buttercream in rope border.
The cake was pretty easy to assemble, and the only thing that took a bit of time for me to make were the fondant tools. My sister wanted me to have a lot of tools of the cake and I reckoned having them on the sides, all around the cake will allow me to display all the different fondant tools.
I made 4 different types of tools in fondant - screwdrivers, spanners, hammers and pliers.
Here is how I decorated this tools cake:
These are basically what you need to make the tools cake:
- A two-tier cake measuring 6 inches and 9 inches round. The height of each tier is about 4 inches. I baked the cakes using my pound cake recipe.
- Chocolate butter icing to cover the entire cake.
- Chocolate buttercream for the cake border and for the cake filling.
- Fondant for the tools and birthday message.
- Toothpick to attach the tools to the cake ( I had to resort to toothpicks to secure the tools to the cake as the fondant tools were too heavy to depend on the butter icing to remain attached to the cake.
Here is how I assembled the cake:
Fondant tools
- I made the fondant tools a few days in advance. I used my fondant recipe and this recipe works very well for 3D objects without me having to add any tylose or CMC. All the tools were made using white fondant and I attached 2 toothpicks into the back of each tool. I only painted the tools when they were completely dry.
- I used Wilton colors for the tools. As usual, I made an estimation of how many tools I would require and made 1 set of extra tools for contingency.
Covering the cake
- On the day of the party, I assembled the cake. I covered each tier with butter icing and then stacked them together with the support of bubble tea straws.
- I then piped the rope border for both the top and bottom tier with chocolate buttercream.
- Next was the birthday message. I used one of Wilton's lettering tools for the letters. It was not very easy to use but the results, I must say were stunning, so I felt it was worth the struggle with the lettering.
- Finally, I attached the fondant tools all around the cake in equal intervals for a balanced look.
- I removed the tools when transporting the cake to my sister's place though. I did not want to risk the tools falling of the cake as they were only attached with toothpicks. Since I already had the toothpick marks on the cake, reattaching them to the cake was very easy.
- In case you are wondering, the numbers "31' on the cake were candles.
- I must say, the tools did attract alot of attention at the party, especially since they were able to be removed from the cake and be held in hands.
- I truly enjoyed making this tools cake and equally enjoyed the compliments I received from guests at the party.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post. Happy decorating 🙂 🙂
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