Unfortunately I didn’t think to take any step-by-step pictures while making this cake, so I will do my best without them. This cake was a lot of fun to watch come together. It is the first 3D one I’d ever attempted and I was quite happy with it.
For the body….It was made by stacking up about 4 round cake, 2 different sizes (8″ & 6″), on a cake board and carve with a serrated knife, so they blend together and form the general shape of a dog’s body, when sitting. I made a batch of chocolate buttercream icing, for between each cake layer and the crumb coat. With more fondant, form the front and back legs, and tail. The back legs and tail were formed with solid fondant and pressed against the cake body. The front legs were formed by wrapping fondant around skinny plastic sticks. This helped keep the legs upright and provided some stability for the cake. Be sure to leave extra stick uncovered, so there is enough to poke into the cake to secure in place. Once you have all the pieces where you want them, pipe on the chocolate buttercream using a grass tip to create the “hair” (I used Wilton icing tip #233). Wrap the tip end of the icing bag in a damp paper towel and place the whole thing in a Ziploc bag until ready to use for the head and cake board.
The head…..I purchased a small round styrofoam ball and covered it with fondant, adding more to the forehead and nose areas and shaping it to look more like a dog’s head. I used a 1/2″ plastic cake pipe to insert about 2-3″ into the head so that I could ice it completely, and it will also be used to hold it onto the body. Roll out some fondant and cut into two floppy ear shapes (cutting around a template with a pizza cutter, works very well). Take the two ear pieces and press one on either side of the styrofoam head. With a small ball of black fondant, shape a nose and two eyes and gently press onto the face. Add small pieces of white fondant to the eyes, and paint on piping gel to give them that shiny look for a bit of realism. Then, use the grass tip and cover the head completely with piped on chocolate buttercream.
Finishing up….. The cake board was covered in grass with rope toy laying at the dog’s feet. The rope toy was several thin ropes of red and white fondant, twisted together. Add a bandana, cut out of red fondant, decorated with buttercream edging and balloons, and gently draped and secured on its back. Cut two leave shapes out of red fondant and place where the two bandana ends meet to create a “tied” look. The nametag hanging from the bandana is white fondant with the writing in an edible black ink marker.
Happy creating, and may all your days be sweet!
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