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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

WW2 Zero Aircraft Cake

I was asked to do a customised birthday cake for Betsy of Knotty Bicsie. She is a friend of my tatting craft mate Jullie. It was a black forest sponge cake with chocolate cream and I added some Mars bars between the layers. Her hubby is into remote control aircraft and particularly liked the Japanese Zero Aircraft. I did some research online and based on the picture she gave me, I finally got it made.






















But not without heartache and sleepless nights. It was far from my initial concept of the cake. I was supposed to make a stand to alleviate the plane over the cake, using the cake's weight to balance the stand. I tried to use pastillage as I read that it dries bone hard and is much stronger than gumpaste and fondant. I made 3 stands and left them to dry for 3 days before trying them out. However, I do not know if it is because of the humidity here or was it that I had rubbed in shortening. The strength just wasn't there. And this is what happened.


















My heart broke along with them too. That was 2 nights before I had to deliver the cake! So I went back to gumpaste. I applied the Pythagora's theorem (I really did the math okay?) to make an inclination of 45 degrees.


















I did the planes with part gumpaste and part pastillage. The smaller parts done by pastillage dried okay. I tried to make the propellers smaller but after breaking 3 of them, I gave in to the idea of obscenely big propellers. Only 1 plane will get to take flight. Unfortunately, 1 plane did slipped off the support during transportation, despite of bubble wraps. The support gave way. Aarrgh~~!! I let Betsy do the final assembly (placing the plane on the cake) as she needed to take it to her hubby dearest. It was supposed to be a surprise! I cut some candles into shorter lengths to represent the runway lights.























Tell you what, Ed, you are 1 lucky guy!





















Presents from Betsy to Ed. Betsy's blog has the picture of the runway being lit up. Go take a look~
















Here's the picture I mentioned.

So it was after 10 eggs, 3 Old Gold chocolate bars, at least 3 pounds of icing sugar, 7 sleepless nights and panda eyes that this cake got delivered to you. Happy Birthday! And glad to be a part of your celebration!

I would like to experiment with pastillage again as I know what can be achieved with it. Meantime, I will be busy with work and have some Christmas orders to fulfill. So please bear with me for the time being.

Till next time~~ じゃね~~

15 comments:

Jullie Teo said...

WOW!!!! NICE ONE!!! Yea, ED is a very very lucky guy... hehehehe

Katherine said...

i freaking love planes or aviation related stuff and this cake is sooo cool!! you know Suyin from cookingismypassion.blogspot.com? i think you are the singapore version of her! =D

Baking Fiend said...

SCORE! it's very nicely made.the plane looks like a real toy one. well done, rei.

Unknown said...

Hey Rei! I waited so long after you showed me the photo to see this post. Great Job as usual and looking forward to more wonder creation, bakes/crochet/tatting etc...

Noob Cook said...

incredible culinary/sugar art =D

Rei said...

Thank you for the compliments! I had fun + headaches.. ahahah~ :D

Katherine : I am flattered to be compared to Suyin but I still think I have a long way to go. I actually wrote to consult her about pastillage. She was approachable and shared what she knows. Very generous lady!

Passionate About Baking said...

Hi Rei!
Woah! A lot of work, creativity & inspiration wor! So beautiful! For me, even small small decorating like chocolate already I took so long, let alone doing all those gum paste lah, fondant! I must really take my "hats" off to you! ;)

Knotty Bicsie said...

Thank u so so much, once again, Rei! Everyone LOVES the cake you baked! All the boys @the runway were especially amazed by the mini "Zero" on the cake! You know what, they are still sitting in my freezer! :P Ed still opens the fridge to admire them everyday! :D

颜姨 said...

Rei,

Great looking cake. I can understand your sweat and toil in making this cake. Coz I feel the same when I have order to fulfilled! Keep it up, after all the satisfaction counts, right!!!

cheers

shira

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

wow! i can imagine the sleepness nights over this. but the satisfaction is worth it yes?

Gina Choong said...

woo wee Rei, I like your cake, plane and candles idea too. I have to worry soon..this Saturday is my elder dd birthday and I haven't think of what to do with her cake! :(

Rei said...

PAB : You should try out 1 day. You never know it'll get you hooked until you try. :)

Betsy : Thanks! Glad they all enjoyed the cake.

Shira & Terri : Yup, it is worth the effort. :D

Gina : All the best!

KIKILALA said...

Wow!! That is so impressive!! Especially the part where you used the candles as runway lights. Very creative!!

chocolatelover said...

that is beautiful!!! Saw the cake from Betsy's blog and was admiring it. i am a friend of Jullie, your tatting friend and i saw your blog address when you make the pound cake wz tatting as the theme...

You are definitely a good and talented baker!!!

Rei said...

TMM & Chocolate lover : Thank you!