Cars

My favorite part of cake-making is the decorating part. I'm not a big fan of baking, filling, and icing cakes, despite how crucial these steps are to an actual cake's existence. Thankfully, I got to skip straight to the fun part by just making cake toppers again. 

I tried another new-to-me technique: modeling chocolate. These cars are about the size of my iPhone, which amounts to a HUGE hunk of smooshy fondant. Some cake decorators will use foil or other non-edible material to fill large interior spaces, but I like making my creations to be totally edible (minus a toothpick or two, as needed), so I explored the use of modeling chocolate. 

I don't think my sugar-to-chocolate ratios were perfect, or I may have over-mixed it, so I think it was a little too soft. Nevertheless, I plan on using this medium again and learning more about it. Plus, it achieved what I wanted it to for this project. I molded and carved the chocolate into my desired shapes, and the modeling chocolate hardened so I could then cover it in fondant and add all the details. 

Anthony's toy cars were extremely helpfulful as a reference for all the curves and crevasses that needed to be sculpted. 3D models are easier to copy than pictures!

Next I added all of Mater's pieces. I made 3 or 4 different versions of his engine until I made one I liked. I kept trying to make it out of many pieces, but it turned out that simpler was better. 

I am, however, pretty proud of the detail work on his towing mechanism. All of it is fondant, with just 2 toothpicks to hold the center beam and the long arm holding the cable/hook. 

Lightning McQueen's sponsor became the birthday boy, RJ, and it was a cute way to personalize the car (plus, "RJ" is much easier than Rust-eze to spell out in fondant). 

Finally, the make-or-break moment: paint the finishing touches. I was a little nervous because if I messed up the paint job, the whole car could be ruined and hours of work would be wasted. There was no room for error. 

I used some new powdered food colors, which worked perfectly to make Mater look like the rusty old car he is, and I gave McQueen's lightning bolt a little extra oomph!

I am so pleased with the results, as were my clients!

I'll leave you now with one more detail that I thought was the perfect final touch: birthday boy turned 4, and Mater helped remind everyone by bringing in the number on his tow hook.