Hi all

I would like to make a cake that looks like an ashtray and would welcome ideas. I have got some already from the site, like making the cigarettes from candles. Or if I were to use "sweet" (shredded coconut) "tobacco" to make the cigarettes, what would be a good edible paper to use to resemble cigarette paper? And what would make good ash for the ashtray? I have seen an example of crushed Oreos and icing sugar, but wouldn't that look brown rather than grey? I am a definite amateur at decorating, so need something not too challenging, but I am happy to spend a lot of time.

Also, any recipes for the basic cake would be welcome - the birthday girl is a big fan of bitter (we are British, by the way!), so I would like to use that. There are lots of recipes using stout (and usually chocolate), but I would prefer to use bitter - possibly with dried fruit.

Well, I hope this will inspire somebody to help me with ideas.

Thanks

Dave    

i knew you were asking for help -- american oreos are black so if you get those in the uk they might make a good grey i've never tried it but i have black cocoa powder and it is quite the mess when it gets away from me and this is what our oreos are made from so it's a very good/likely place to start -- you can get black food coloring too of course -- 

jumble of ideas for cigarettes:

i like to make things as edible as possible because it is fun and people get a kick out of eating these things -- there are candy cigarettes for one thing -- you can use thin rolled fondant for the 'paper' -- you can of course color the coconut brown with gel color to make tobacco just mash it all up together -- you could make your own candy cigarettes with rolled chocolate or with royal icing or with candy clay aka modeling chocolate -- plus you can buy chocolate rolls that resemble cigarette too --

i know i'm not filling in the gaps on all of these different ideas --- just brain storming for you -- but keep asking questions to narrow it down if something appeals to you --

for the ash tray -- you're gonna need to get a picture because there's just too many different designs to filter one out for you

still thinking about the ash...

bitter? is that beer? no i guess the stout is beer? not sure on that one :)

oh so bitter is beer? i caught on -- takes a minute ;) i see it in the title -- what fruit goes with beer? raspberry? blackberry?