Snowboarder Cake

This is my boy.  Really, it looks just like him.  He is going to be stoked when he sees this edible gum paste snowboarder figure flying over the top of his birthday cake.  Edible figures take some patience, but once you make your first one, the others become way less intimidating.  Read on for step-by-step instruction...

Supplies to have handy:  Gum Paste, food coloring, plastic glove (so your hands don't turn colors, shortening, angel hair pasta, water, small brush, tools, skewer.  I like to start with the head.  Color some gum paste flesh tone.  Add a little shortening as your are kneading the gum paste to smooth the surface better.  Using a pointed tool, poke two eyes.  Pinch off a tiny triangle to make the nose.  Poke a mouth.  I used a little brown food coloring to brush on some bangs and eyebrows.  I am actually covering up most of the face with ski goggles.

Color more gum paste for the jacket.  His jacket is bright blue.  Make an indent in the top to place the head.

I attach the head with the pasta (snapping off the other end with my fingers before inserting about half way up the head.  Use a dab of water on both ends to help adhere the gum paste.  A dab of water will act a bit like glue.

 Roll out the arms and make round indents at the bottom of the sleeves.  Adhere with a dab of water, or you can insert the pasta to secure.

 A thin strip of blue gum paste goes behind the head for the jacket collar.

 Mix dark gray for the snow pants and roll into a long piece.  Bring the ends together in a V and then bend at the knees.  Snip the ends of the legs the appropriate length.  I used scissors.

 His snowboarding boots are white, so I attached two flat ovals to the bottom of the snow pants.  I know...the bald head looks funny, but it is soon to be covered by a helmet.

For the helmet, I mixed a lighter gray and made it into a ball and rolled the round tool to create almost a mushroom looking top.

 Secure the helmet and add the ear padding/chin strap on both sides.

 Cut out a piece of black gum paste in the shape of ski goggles and make a thin strip for the goggle strap to attach all the way around the helmet.  You can see the bangs just above the goggles.  Make two round balls for the gloves and secure with a small piece of pasta and dabs of water.  Cut out a snowboard and attach the snowboarder to the board with dabs of water.

 He requested a cake with a snowboarder in the air, so I skewered the snowboarder from the bottom of the snowboard through the snowboarder's torso.  We'll see if we can get him launched tomorrow with the cake.

I love this kid!  He's rad and I'm so proud to be his mom.  He inspires me.  We have so much fun together and I love how we find ways to challenge one another. 

Here's the rest of the cake to go with the snowboarder cake topper:  a 6" double layer chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and a snow jump.  He wanted the snowboarder flying in the air on a day that he finally landed a 360 on his snowboard.
The snowboarder is doing a board grab in the air.  He's made out of gum paste and weighs 1.5oz.  Doesn't seem like much, until it needs to float above soft layers of cake.

Start with the cakes.   I just purchased Wilton Bake Easy Strips to insulate the outer edges of the cake pans while baking.  My cake decorating aunt told me how to take old rags and t-pin them as she has for years, but these strips are already assembled and come in a pretty fabric.  You soak the strips and fit around the cake pan for baking and the tops bake level instead rising to a dome in the centers.

Now to support the snowboarder.  This is a total rookie rig, but it's what I came up with while thinking about what I had around the house.  I used the top of a pizza box and cut a 6" circle for the base.

Then, I found a piece of Styrofoam and sliced it down to this size.  I wrapped the Styrofoam in plastic wrap so the cake wouldn't be against the Styrofoam and then I hot glued the wrapped Styrofoam to the cardboard base.  I even put a small dot of hot glue on the bottom of the cardboard piece to secure to the plate.

I thought about cutting the cakes down the middle and then cutting out the square shape, but last second found a square cookie cutter the exact same size as the Styrofoam.  I cut through the frozen cakes and spread buttercream on the top of the bottom layer:

Place the cake over the Styrofoam:

Place the top layer and crumb coat.  I used one of the square cut outs to create the jump by slicing it at an angle with a serrated knife.

Crumb coat the jump:

After frosting the cake- not concerned about it being smooth and even so it looked more like snow- I piped chocolate frosting tree trunks and green frosting trees.

As long as it is the 2014 Olympics, I thought I'd throw in some Olympic rings.

I used extra gum paste and colored it blue, yellow, black, green and red.  Roll it out and use two sizes of circle cutters (piping tips worked well).  To connect the rings, as they are interlocking, cut a slit in each and link.  It's a little tricky to get the same over/under pattern.  The photo above is accurate.

I covered the top of the wooden skewer with a little white gum paste and inserted the skewer through the jump and into the Styrofoam.  The snowboarder figure was nice and stable.  He didn't budge.

The birthday boy was pretty thrilled with his cake and said it was exactly how he wanted his cake to turn out. 

He's outgrowing his starter board, so he'll be picking out a new board and bindings either end-of-season or beginning of next (he said in case he grows a bunch over the summer).  I know he'll grow soon enough, but it sure is fun to watch the little guy catch big air.  Happy 11th.