My Thirtieth Birthday Cake. (January 2002)

Who better to make my own birthday cake than me?? My mom told me she's not getting/baking me a cake this year, and that probably nobody ever would again, now that I make cakes so much. Fortunately, I had already started working on my cake. Now I should tell you, the black leather/chain/spike/stud theme of this cake isn't really related to my birthday in any way. I've just had the idea for this cake for a long time, and this seemed as good a time as any to actually make it.

The black leather is just fondant, dyed black. (I use the Wilton, pre-made fondant that comes in a box. I made my own once, but buying it is SO much easier!) The spikes and studs are white fondant, painted silver. And the chain is gumpaste, also painted silver. I don't think you can tell in the photo, but I used a wheel to put in stitch marks all around the leather. It looks very real.

Ancil and Fenghua came over after work so they could see it in all its black leather glory before it got eaten. They loved it.

Mike & Joe came over the night of my birthday and together the 4 of us devoured over half of the cake (mostly Joe and Dan). They loved it too. I really have to say, I was *very* happy with this cake. I think it might even beat out the Obnoxious Spring Monday Cake as my personal favorite. When my dad saw it, he asked if it were a day planner. No joke. A day planner. I just told him that yes, it was a day planner. Sigh. :)

Problems: The only problem I encountered had to do with the fact that i used piping gel to attach the extra pieces of leather, the spikes, and the studs to the cake. They kept sliding down the cake. Eventually, they held ok, but next time I'm just going to use royal icing. I used piping gel because it's clear, so if a little bit gushed out the side, no big deal. I guess I could have just dyed the royal icing black.