I had this cake in my head. I got the idea a couple of days ago and couldn't get rid of it. A New York City themed cake. This is for no reason, other than I have it in my head and I felt like I HAD to get it out.
My drawing skills are NOT good, but I do okay with cakes. But this one was more elaborate than any cake I've ever done before, so I decided to draw it out. I spent hours last night, looking at pictures of NYC and other things on the cake, and then drawing it out on a 1/4 sheet of poster board (I even dug out the colored pencils!).
I have the rest of the week and weekend off, so I planned to start working on this cake today. But now that I am getting ready to start, I'm scared! I've got this picture in my head of what I want it to look like, but I'm terrified that I'm not going to be able to do it.
I've only been decorating a little over a year. I've dealt very little with fondant or royal icing. I do okay, but still have TONS to learn. I've also purchased Sugarshack's Perfecting Buttercreme and Successful Stacking and just got those yesterday, so I've not tried any of the methods yet.
I've put a picture of my drawing of the cake here. Any suggestions would be more than welcome. Oh, and the small writing around the edges are some of the words to "New York, New York" by Frank Sinatra.
Has anyone ever been scared to try a cake because you were afraid you couldn't do what was in your head?????

I've had a dozen different cakes running around in my head for a couple of years now, so 1 cake would not scare me. Especially this one. I would do chocolate transfers, or bake and decorate cookies, for the features on the sides. It would take the cake to the next level, and it would give the buildings dimension, and therefore, more of the true appearance of the New York City Skyline.

Where's the Empire State Building? You gotta have the Empire State Building!

And I have to ask - How did you, in Tennessee, know what a Metrocard looks like?

Theresa
A Native New Yorker

and citicorp building (aka the ski slope)

and central park -- carousel or Wolman Rink

a taxi cab!

The "A" train? or any elevated train

The tram to Roosevelt Island

and must -- absolutely MUST -- have "The Lady" -- the Statue of Liberty

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very cute idea!!! looking forward to seeing the finished product

playingwithsugar= I have a metro card... one of 3 for the # of times that I've been to NYC. I LOVE the city. I can't wait to go back. I like the ideas of the cookies... you've given me a lot to think about.

Doug, I thought about doing the Statue of Liberty, but I can't figure out how to do her, without a mold, which I can't get unless I go out of town (I live in an extremely rural area). Any ideas on how I could make her?

Since you're only doing this a year, I would suggest a 50-50 mix of fondant/gumpaste - it's easier to use, because it doesn't dry out as fast. I would also consider making some royal icing the same color as the paste, and piping the crown and flame.

And the next time you come North, send me a PM. If we both have the time, I'll meet you in "The City" and hang out with you for the day.

Theresa

i love the idea of this cake!!!!! nyc really is such an amazing place, can't wait to see the finished product im sure you'll do great!

Wow! Really cool idea! Your drawing is great, too!

Here are a few more ideas to share:
- How about Rockerfeller Center's skating rink.
- Or the marinas along the river where the yachts dock.
- Another thought is a tribute to the Twin Towers. They were such an amazing part of New York, as well as the skyline. I got married just outside of the World Financial Center (hey! there's another idea), not far from the towers, and the few wedding photos we have with them in the background have become quite sentimental.
- There are also the tunnels and bridges.
- South Street Seaport
- Intrepid

I can hardly wait how your cake evolves, especially with everyone's sharing ideas!

This cake might not actually get made this weekend! There are so many good ideas coming in and the cake in my head is getting cooler and cooler. Now let's just hope I can pull it off. I'd hate to disappoint.
Keep the ideas coming!
p.s. I did think about the World Trade Center buildings, but I just can't bring myself to put them there.

IMO, I would not put the WTC in the cake. I also think that all of the ideas people are saying are awesome but be careful that you don't make it too gaudy. You would have to design a whole town to incorporate all of the ideas, lol. But I was thinking, maybe if you did a tiered cake, and use each tier to make a different part of the city, keeping the buildings all over, a couple taxis, maybe the statue of liberty on top, and then the bottom tier you can do a central park theme with the carousal, oh and then going from the bottom to top, you can put the train tracks, and have lil pieces like the metro card, drama faces, etc throughout. LoL, all this talk makes me wanna do this cake hehe.

Is it ok if I lurk, with interest??

My friend's husband contacted me a couple of months ago... it's her 30th birthday in February and he's booked a SURPRISE trip to New York! (we're in London, UK).

He's not telling her until we're all out for her birthday meal and he's asked me to make a cake with lots of New York themes on it, with the words 'Enjoy your trip' piped on it!!

I'm so excited about doing it!!!!!

Relznik- lurk away! And post your picture here when you finish the cake! That would be awesome to see. I love seeing different interpretations of the ideas. A trip to NY is a great present!

LiLMissCupCake-You should make it! I wanna see everyone's NYC cakes! When I searched on here, there were so few! I'd love to see some more. BTW, when you said tierd, the cake in my head suddenly got bigger.

I always have lots of cakes floating in my head, but when it comes to making the cake, I just stand there and stare at it. I don't draw worth a crap, it never looks anything like what I'm thinking. I just look at picture after picture on here and hopefully someday everything will come together. That's what's my profile picture is I get to this point and then don't know how to put what's in my head onto the cake. So yes, I am getting more scared everytime, I'll end up with another blank cake sitting there, in the fridge until it's too late to do anything with it.

Well, I did it. I finished the cake and took it to work today. It was no where NEAR what I had in my head. But it was okay I guess. I just got my Sugarshack DVDs for Perfecting the Art of Buttercream. I'm gonna have to practice. Sigh.
Also, my fondant kept stretching/tearing for the sides, or it was so dry that it kept falling apart. I'm gonna have to work on that.
I did cover the lights on the sign, the drama masks, and the NEW YORK, NEW YORK letters with pearl dust. And the windows on the buildings were made from pearl dust.
Let me know what you think....and the go out and do it 100 times better! PLEASE! I still think that cake in my head is out there! I just can't do it.