Recently my friend Rose invited me to a surprise 40th birthday party for her boyfriend, known in certain circles as Lord Kellfire. I offered to make a cake, and Rose accepted, and it all seemed innocent enough.
And then…
Mancake happened.
Mancake is a portrait of a man! Made of cake!
First let me say, I find it really hard to make cakes for dudes. For girls it’s easy — cakes are naturally girly and pretty and frilly — but for guys, often nothing seems right. So after a lot of thinking and sketching and brainstorming, after many ideas were ideaized and tried and thrown out, it was decided that I would make a portrait of Lord Kellfire in the style of a black velvet painting. On a cake.
Of course, after I had committed to the idea I realized I had no idea whatsoever how to do such a thing. Portrait on a cake? What?
But I didn’t let that stop me! Working from photographs, first I made several “sketches” in royal icing, then decided on a design.
I gathered my ingredients and baked up four half-sheet cakes and a boatload of buttercream.
Figuring out how to transfer my design to fondant was tricky, and I’m not gonna lie, I considered some non-edible solutions. (Can you trace an outline onto fondant with artists’ tracing paper? Would that be safe to eat? It doesn’t matter, because it didn’t work — so I didn’t have to run the risk of poisoning anyone.)
In the end, I devised a pinprick-transfer method that worked great. (More on that another time.)
I painted the image with paint made from Luster Dust mixed with vodka. I did not drink any of this vodka, at least not until the cake was done.
Creepy mancake with no face! This is how it looked before and after piping the outlines. Not very promising before the piping. This was only hours before the party, but no, I was not worried that my cake was going to be a flop and that I was going to ruin everything. Uh, not at all.
The finishing touch was the gilded frame, made from fondant and royal icing, and a few different types of gold food coloring.
And that’s all it took, over the course of a few days, to whip up this dapper confectionery gentleman!
This cake was huge. I honestly could barely carry it out of my apartment! I think the plan was for it to feed 50 people at the party, and it did all that with about half of it leftover. Last I heard, Kelly’s head is still in a freezer in Brooklyn somewhere. (Take that, Walt Disney.)
Also, I am pleased to report that I am dutifully sticking to my pledge to always match my outfits to my desserts!
The cake was cut into and devoured with much gusto!
The party was really lovely — there were mountains of barbeque, lots of toasting and much merriment had by all.
Happy ladies eating mancake!
And finally, a side-by-side comparison of the man and the cake. I can barely tell which one is the cake man and which one is the flesh and blood man. Success!
Special thanks to Mindy Tucker who took all of the lovely party photographs.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Totally incredible! There is really no end to your talent. Such a masterpiece… it's a shame you had to cut it up. Looks exactly like him! And that frame! Congrats on a unique accomplishment.
Speechless. Wow!
Ok, the resempblance? Uncanny…great job!!..Can't blame you for starting to cut at the bottom of the portrait (and NOT making it Red Velvet…)
resemblance…I can't spell
that is fantastic!!!
Gah! You are killing me! That is so over-the-top fabulous, I just adore it!!!
"and that's all it took to whip up this cake over the course of a few days." you are HILARIOUS.
That is inSANE. well done indeed. super impressive! what does it feel like to have so many skills?
I love seeing the making of mancake! Your cake was the show stopper of the eve and made the party all the more unique. Guests were blown away, and still talk about it!
Wow – you really are super duper talented – a total Renaissance woman! I love the cake – incredible replica of the guest of honour!
Bravo!
Love, Violette