Anyways, unlike the rest of my cakes on this blog, I decided to try out an actual boxed cake mix this time. I experimented with the Duff red velvet cake mix, which surprisingly came out extremely moist and flavorful! Yet, it still didn't quite measure up to my own red/purple/blue velvet cake mixes. I grabbed two boxes of this stuff from Michaels on sale for $3 a box... c'mon, I had to! Cake mix that is originally $7.00 a box for $3? Count me in! After mixing the batter and baking just two 12 inch rounds, I let them cool for a day in the refrigerator while I bought the necessary ingredients for my cream cheese frosting: butter, cream cheese, confectioners sugar, and vanilla. Now, the only reason why this frosting came out phenomenal was because of how long I allowed it to mix for. After just three minutes of mixing all of the ingredients combined, the frosting was very thin and shiny. After five, the frosting still maintained its thin consistency, yet started to become more matte. After ten, the frosting was then firmed up and thick, as it should be. I then beat it for a another five minutes, then out came the perfect frosting! Very light yet thick, not too runny yet not too stiff. Perfect!After stacking the two cakes together with a thick layer of frosting in between, I crumb coated the cake, then popped it in the refrigerator for an hour or so while I began to roll and dye my fondant. Once chilled, I frosted a second, smoother layer of frosting on the cake then rolled on a large green sheet of fondant for the base. Following the green layer, I cut a random shape of blue fondant then placed that gently on top of the cake to resemble the lake. the marble effect was achieved by mixing dark blue, light blue, and white together just enough to blend the colors.
I then sculpted out the boat, mushrooms, and rocks, followed by crafting those tricky little cat tails, pr punks. Those are the only parts of the cake that are NOT edible, since the bases are structured by toothpicks. I wrapped green fondant around toothpicks to craft the stem, then slipped on a small amount of brown to form the punk. The only edible punks on this cake are the ones that rest on the side of the cake. Those, along with the leaves, are stuck on with edible adhesive glue. Amazing stuff, I must say! I then took the remaining frosting, dyed it green, then used it as grass over the top of the cake.
Gum paste was then used to craft the little man, his arms, ad the fishing pole and line. I'll tell you what- that stuff gets really hard, really fast. It's great for sculpting figures, and I could have used it for the punks. However, I bought the gum paste after completing the nature scene of the cake.
Then voila! My cake was complete, and my father was beyond astonished and ecstatic!
