OK....just got an order for a birthday cake for a six year old girl. The little miss wants strawberry cake with chocolate icing .......AND....a black Lab on the cake! Any brilliant suggestions where the Lab is concerned. We're talking black on chocolate here!!! LOLOL I'm thinking pink piping and decor on the chocolate iced cake.....maybe a doghouse with a sleeping Lab???? HELP!!!!

Hi!

Here's an idea, after you frost your cake chocolate, have the lab put on a light background, in maybe the shape of an oval or square, then put a border around the shape and it looks like a picture frame.

This way the color of the lab is not right up next to the color of the chocolate, but up against the color that you used for the background of the "picture frame". I would perfer white of course.


I hope that made sense.
mcginnis

How about doing a sleeping lab (or just sitting) on a fondant rug?

I did a black great dane. It was supposed to match an actual Dane, with her gray hair and everything. Since I have great danes, I molded some small cakes and put black fondant on it. People liked the long fondant tail that hung off the side of the cake. I used white fondant writer for the gray whiskers and stuff. It was actually pretty easy, although it was heavy and sunk a tad by the next day - but no one noticed. I piped a shag carpet under her and put her head on a pillow (so it didn't sink into the cake )

Oh yeah - and where it sunk the most -- the back -- I just threw a blanket over her to match the rest of the stuff

I'd make the chocolate a very light color. Then, I like the idea of having the black lab set against something light in color, maybe a little doggie blanket or pillow.

Sunflowerbagel~ That's a great dog! Guess I need to get my gumpaste out and start playing. Wish I had more time between now and delivery date.

Wendy~ My chocolate BC can be fairly light in color....was thinking of using that anyway. Probably need to check with the mom on a few more "taste" requirements.

Thanks everyone for you great ideas! Anybody got a favorite strawberry cake recipe?????

Phoov...
I just finished making a few more sample cakes for my bride that's coming tomorrow. One was a strawberry cake and one a raspberry.

My customers love these simple, but yummy cakes.

Use a D.H. 'classic' white cake mix. (Do Not... use the egg yokes!) I buy the 1 lb. package of frozen 'whole' strawberries, from Wal-Mart. (No added sugar.) Thaw the package and then lightly smash the berries. Put the whole thing in a colinder (sp.?) to drain. You're going to substitue the strawberry juice for the water, in the recipe, on the back of the box.

Drain the berries and measure the liquid. Add water into the juice, just until you have the 1 1/3 cup of liquid required for the recipe. I add 1/4 tsp. of red food coloring to each mix I use. (The color of the natural strawberries isn't red enough, after it bakes. ) We eat with our eyes, as well as our mouths. Without this little added color, the baked cake is just too drab, in color. Then mix, as you would, to make a white cake. After the cake is mixed well, I drop in the drained strawberries, raising my K.A. mixing bowl up and down, so the paddle helps bring up the batter from the bottom of the bowl.

Then.... just bake the same way, as you would for a reg. cake mix. Please note~> The cake raises a little different than it does, for a reg. mix. Insert toothpick, or skewer, to test for doneness. It should come out clean. The baked cake will be totally flat on the top.

I had one mother and bride that loved this cake so much that they had me do ALL the wedding cake tiers in strawberry.

You can do this same thing with frozen raspberries. DeeeeLishUs ! Only.... I do not add any coloring to this one because the raspberries have plently of color. I use a non-dairy icing and it has a flavor similar to cool whip, but finished cake doesn't need any refridgeration, since it hasn't any dairy in it. It's not a sweet, sweet icing. My husband says that it complements the cake... instead of covering up the cake flavor. People go back for seconds.

These flavors are usually requested by the brides for me to do at least one of the tiers in berries. These cakes are really good and very simple to do. I don't charge extra for labor, when I do this; only for the price of the frozen packages of fruit.

HTH..

HTH...thanks so much for the strawberry cake idea. This week has turned into a fiasco for me! In addition to the dog cake....I have 6 others to be delivered in a 3 day period. Yikes! I truly appreciate your help! PH