The Pink Mini Machine Birthday Cake

The Story behind this Cake

This is a story all about a cake that started looking one way, but was then transformed! I had never done a car cake before, but relished the challenge to create such an iconic make of car - The Mini!.  

Step 1-4

I made an 8" Square and a 7" square cake. Put the 7" on top of the 8", cut the excess down one side of the 8" and built the front out abit and carved the shape I wanted, adding holes for the wheels. I ganached it and was pleased with the smooth finish I had achieved, then I covered it in white fondant as I was going to airbrush in the black bits and then overall pink. At this point I was happy, but not excited. So the black airbrushing didn't go quite to plan, I thought I'd masked enough but ended getting some spray on the bonnet. No worries I thought, I'll airbrush with the pink and you won't see it, but no. Then on top of that I didn't like the bonnet, I had been looking at more pictures of Minis and it wasn't long enough and the top shape was all wrong.

Step 5-8 

So - I stripped off the fondant on the bonnet. I thought I'll fix that and re-fondant. But I STILL wasn't happy,I didn't like where I had positioned the wheels, after looking at more pictures of Mini's in fact what did I like? 

I went back and forth in my mind and then just did it - I stripped the whole lot, removed all the fondant, obviously damaged the ganache underneath so had to re ganache it all again, but once I had done that I was then happy with the shape, really happy, I could see the Mini in the cake. 

Finally I had a cake that I could work with. I decided it would be better to cover in pink fondant and add the black detail with black fondant. Once I had covered it in pink fondant I wanted a brighter pink, so I airbrushed it all over and got just the right shade.
In the end it was the detail. Each bit cut by hand and slowly it came together. I was finally happy with my first car cake. So what did I learn. 


My Tip For you:
  • Plan better, research the shape you want to achieve and until you are absolutely happy, don't start decorating.
  • Don't experiment directly onto the cake, especially when airbrushing with black.
  •  Finally, don't settle, it's my work and I want to send each and every cake out exactly how it was in my head. 

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