Next month, a friend of mine is retiring, and is celebrating by having a BBQ ~ hamburgers, to be exact - beef, salmon or veggie. I, in my wisdom, offered to make a cake...not just any cake, mind you, but a hamburger cake.
The first time I made one of these was back in 1991 when I worked with the person who is retiring. I have made one other hamburger cake since then. So this will be my third ~ they are huge things, with white/yellow cake for the top part of the "bun", chocolate cake for the "meat" and white/yellow cake for the bottom of the "bun". The lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes are made from a marzipan recipe. I make the cakes the day before and then ice and put them together the next. I had no idea how the first one would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised ~ who wouldn't be at 3 a.m. when I finally got it all together!
I was hunting up a photo of my original hamburger cake, and came across other cakes I have made ~ I have put together a little slide show of some of them. Some are made using forms, but others are just 'made up'. The guitar cake was made for my son ...it said "No reason to fret..." The most challenging was the Harley Davidson cake I made a couple of years ago. I made up a pattern and then spent a lot of time checking out motorcycles envisioning what I could use for certain parts. I had a few biker guys wondering why I was checking out their bikes so carefully. It took me three days to frost it..each night I put it in the big freezer and it just fit ~ being about 3 feet in length. I was able to find some edible metal icing paint to make it look more realistic.
Anyway, here's a sampling:
Glo, I am so impressed. What creativity and skill you've developed! I remember when I was a kid that there were bubble gum and other candies shaped like a hamburger. There's something fun about seeing one thing and tasting another. I'm sure your friends must have enjoyed your fabulous cake!
ReplyDeleteA Harvard aeroplane cake! All that was missing would have been the noise that the real thing makes! xx
ReplyDeleteNikki ~ Thanks so much for your kind comment ~ much appreciated. That's quite true about seeing one thing, and tasting another. Yes, I'm a bit well known for making crazy cakes and other things...nobody knows quite what to expect. Sometimes the funniest ones, are the least expected...once for example, I made a Black Forest Cake, but the Cassis "syrup" thickened, so I spread it on instead of pouring. I took the cake to the party, and later when it was being sliced, the person couldn't get the knife out! They thought I had played a joke, but I was as surprised as they were! The middle seemed to have turned into a toffy and it took ages to pull the knife out with this string of toffy attached. Good for a laugh anyway! I'll take a photo of the latest hamburger cake when I make it next month.
ReplyDeleteFlighty ~ You are so right about the sound of a Harvard! The airport isn't that far away, and I can tell in a minute when the Harvard takes off ~ fly by's on Memorial Day, for example. There are a couple of other War planes that join him...you know who the Harvard cake was made for, then! My friend was thrilled, and I placed it on some sky/cloud material for the tablecloth...
wow! those cakes are terrific. the guitar was really cute!!! i get excited if i can make a regular round cake that doesn't list to one side...
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