Oh No! Jill M. fell in her oven! Happy 50th!

Let me start by saying that this has got to be my craziest and funniest one yet!  When my co-worker Jen asked me to design a cake for her sister's beautiful age of 5-0, I did not hesitate to say yes.  I am glad that I took on this cake.  I asked Jen about her sister to get ideas for the design and it turns out that Jill loves to cook, and has a great sense of humor.  I first started sketching out cakes that were stacked for a more elegant approach, then I tried a 3D approach and sketched a cake that resembled a butcher block cutting board with diced veggies and an chef's best knife upon it.  Then as Jen reviewed these and saw one that had a mini stove place at the top layer, "How about just a stove?".  "How about a stove with her stuck in it?", says I.  "Love it!"

I searched through pages of images and came across the perfect pastel blue retro oven stove to put lovely Jill in.  The baking of the cake and the elements of the stove was the easy part.  It was the element of Jill's legs sticking out of the oven and the oven door slightly ajar that was baffling to me.  I had to come up with a way to keep gravity from pulling down the angled door and rip away from the cake.  Not only that, but to be able to support the weight of the torso and legs.  A cake falling part is a baker's worst nightmare!

After some careful planning, I modeled mini Jill's torso and legs out of a 50/50 mixture of fondant and gumpaste two days ahead for the proper amount of drying time.  I did the same for the oven door, but only used gumpaste tinted with a touch of blue fondant to match the color of the rest of the stove's pastel fondant.  Using a template that I cut out of cardboard, I shaped black gumpaste wedges to act as anchors to attach the door to the front of the cake.  The cake was baked a day ahead of time prior to assembly to allow for it to settle and cool.  The sheets of my spiced chocolate cake were cut in half and stacked and filled with cinnamon buttercream.  The 8" tall cake was then covered in the same and wrapped in a pastel blue blanket of fondant. The little details were cut out of fondant and gumpaste and attached on to bring the stove into reality.  Using two bamboo skewers and gum glue, the door was attached and propped in place to dry.  The torso was covered in pieces of clothing and slid into position.  The legs were modeled around bamboo skewers and I used these to attach the legs into the cake.  Rolling out a sheet of pink fondant super thin and ruffled with a veining tool, a realistic skirt was fashioned and drapped around the legs.  To exaggerate the situation of the cake, one slipper place on a foot with another on the black and white tiled floor.  An apron was draped on the oven door opposite from the legs for visual balance.  For the final touch, I brushed on silver fondant glaze for a weathered chrome look.  Don't you love it?  I do!