"Ticketeeboo" Yacht shaped Birthday Cake
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The Story behind this Cake
I had the privilege of being asked to replicate a yacht for a 60th. This boat had been designed and commissioned by the gentleman some years ago and he has sailed her all around the world. The boat's name is Ticketeeboo.
I started by studying pictures of the boat from a website provided to me. She was quite long and had a very tall sail. I baked a 12" square cake and then made a template from paper of how I wanted her shape. I carved up the cake by also extending the length to 18" long and cut the top parts by eye. I had very little cake left. Once I was happy with the shape I covered it in a white chocolate lemon ganache. Ganache is great for getting a smooth and strong finish on odd shaped cakes, it helps keep the structure. (Picture 1) I then covered the cake in parts. First I covered the top white and got as smooth a finish as I could and trimming around the shape of the boat (Picture 2). Next I added the inlay elements of wood. I cut out the white fondant I had just covered and used what I had cut out as a guide to cut the wood coloured inlays that I also added lines on (picture 3) and decided where the mast would go and made the hole. I then added some additional details upon this wood effect inlay and also added the same colour fondant to the sides on the top. I didn't cut away the white this time I simply added it on top. (Picture 4). I coloured some gumpaste very dark blue and measured the stripes to do the sides, they also had a slight slope, starting at 7cm on the front, reducing to 5 cm at the back. To make the mast so tall I used some 7mm thick copper pipe and covered it in grey fondant, the side mast was a skewer covered in the same grey. The sails were just rolled out gumpaste and cut to shape. I left these to dry for a couple of days. The canopies were again made using the dark blue and just cut by eye. I used some silver floral wire to add some finishing touches to look like guide rails (Final Picture). After finishing her the biggest challenge was actually transporting her the 120 miles to the birthday boy. I had designed it so that the mast could be taken down and travelled the journey horizontally. The tall sail was only actually attached at the destination, in the final picture it is simply balancing in place. I loved making this cake as it was my first boat, I had to stay as true to the actual boat as I could while still being able to transport it and having the confidence that the sails wouldn't break as they were so tall and thin. All in all she stood at about 22" tall. Thanks for allowing me to share, Alana Lily Chocolates & Cakes x Share a cake by Alana Lily Chocolates & Cakes |