Ok, my SIL wants me to make her a Shrek cake for her husband. She wants it to be a carved cake of shrek. So below is a sketch I did of a cake "skeleton" for Shrek. My questions are:
How would you do the head? Would you carve it out of cake and then cover it in fondant? Or would you sculpt it out of modeling chocolate? Maybe RK covered in fondant?
What would work best to cover the arms and legs in? Modeling chocolate?

I was thinking that the cake part would be the belly area. I didn't want the cake to be to huge so I thought I would stack about 4? 8 inch rounds and then carve into the shape of a rounded belly.

Any suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appeciated. His birthday is not until August 3rd so I have a few months to figure this out.

both duff and mike macarey tend to use modeling chocolate for the kinds of details you are describing.

and RKT for the head covered in modeling chocolate would probably be best.

duff often uses modeling chocolate under fondant for more structure and support.

might use a combo of either half rounds or ovals for the top flatter part of torso and then rounds for the big belly.

armature looks real good!!!

I used modeling chocolate for the standing doll cake I did last weekend. You can hide seams in it beautifully. While the face is way far from perfect, all the features were added onto the blank face and the seams are nearly invisible. I didn't need many servings so I made the head out of a styro ball, but my original intention was to make it out of RKT.

Here's the doll: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1202436

And here's some in-progress pics of it in case that helps you organize your thoughts:
www.cakedalaska.com See the "Nightmare" page.

HTH,
Deanna

TooMuchCake, I loved your doll. It's incredible. I also loved your last paragraph!

If anyone is wondering about her buttercream smoothing method she has a DVD available for $20 at www.lickthespoonproductions.com. The DVD is about carving small animals, but the techniques can be used on a variety of cakes.

Great job!

Michele

TooMuchCake,
Your doll cake is awesome! That is just what I was thinking of (except in Shrek form). Thank you so much for sharing how you did yours! This will help me out so much! I will definitely use the modeling chocolate. Is there any paerticular recipe for modeling chocolate that you reccomend? Also is the any type of cake that is best for carving?
Thanks so much for your help!

Thanks, Amytracy!

I used Michele Foster's recipe from her cookbook (very good cookbook!!) that involves melting cheapie candy melts with marshmallow creme and then kneading out the grease, but you can also use the Wilton recipe. But definitely, knead out the grease regardless. Stand over the sink and knead small amounts at a time until it stops coming out, then let the modeling choc rest. You can use green candy melts to make the mod. choc, but if you need to tint yours, be sure to use candy colors.

Use the sturdiest cake recipe you can, especially if you are going to do a lot of shaping. The doll's dress was pretty much just a cone shape, so I used the yummy chai tea recipe I found on here. I generally use pound cakes but my family doesn't really eat cake any more (after a while, it becomes art supplies, rather than food) and often use the Cake Mix Doctor recipes.

HTH,
Deanna

Your sketch is similar to what is used in my santa. The head on my santa is made from a styrofoam ball and is covered in fondant. See my pic. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1167701