May 2016 – My brother Jim turns 70. Jim is an excellent golfer making the theme of his cake an easy choice, a “Golf Cake!”
I made a two-tiered Carrot Cake, the bottom tier is a 12-inch two-layer cake, and the top tier is a 4-layer 8-inch cake. The entire cake is filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting. I worked on the decorations for about one month using gumpaste to make most of the decorations.
The following photos show some of the steps I completed for this special cake. After baking, chilling, and stacking the cakes I added a crumb coat before moving on to the next steps.
Bottom tier is frosted.
Top tier is frosted.
The tiers are stacked and cloud decorations added.
Piping frosting grass.
I used small alphabet cookie cutters to cut fondant letters to spell out the birthday message.
Making some of the decorations out of gumpaste. This photo shows the beginning of the golf clubs and golf bag.
Making Marshmallow Rolled Fondant flowers and trees. Since these decorations were more likely to be eaten by guests I used fondant instead of gumpaste for these smaller decorations. I used small flower and tree cookie cutters to cut out the shapes. I used Blossom Dusts and Luster Dusts, mixed with a bit of clear alcohol to paint many of the decorations.
Placing the decorations. The sand trap is made with crushed cookies.
The golf bag is completed and placed on the bottom tier. I painted various colors of Blossom Dusts and Luster Dusts on the golf bag attempting to achieve a “distressed leather” look.
The back of the cake.
My brother Jim on the left, with his friend Wayne. These two friends share the same birthday.
