We're dedicating a new building on our campus and I thought it might be fun (and earn me some brownie points) to make a cake of the building. It's pretty simple. A box with a sloped roof. Just looking for a little advise. I was thinking about 9 by 16 by about 8 inches tall. That would be similar to the building. On Ace of Cakes I've seen them do fondant and then press a brick texture into it. Does anyone know where you get the template for the texture? I may just use crusting BC, though and pipe in windows and details. It's a three story brick building with the ground floor faced in stone. I haven't had an epiphany on the stone yet, though thinking a FBCT might be the way to go. It's worth putting some work into as there will be a lot of dignitaries and people with money there. You never know.
What color is the building? I know you haven't said anything about using chocolate, but thought I'd throw in the only experience I've had with making a building. I did a convenience store for the retirement of the VP and used a mold to make panels and encased the cake in chocolate. I was really pleased with the way it turned out, but it was brown brick and only one 'story' tall. It was a monster of a cake - you'd have to make sure you had help to load it. Might want to go ahead and measure your transport vehicle so you know how tall you will be able to make it. (Don't pull a Duff!) Anyway, my cake is in my photos.
Also, it seems like I remember seeing a rolling pin that had a brick pattern and I thought that if I ever do a building again I would like to get one, but I can't remember where I saw it! Maybe do a google search? Seems like it was a bit pricey though, maybe $40 or $50?
I'm planning on doing a building (Historic Home) at Christmas-time and since the bricks are a unique size, I was thinking of making my own template. I think I read somewhere on here that they can be made from royal icing on paper? or a hot glue gun on acetate? I'll have to look it up when the time gets closer.
I am planning to use buttercream and not fondant, so maybe these homemade templates won't be rigid enough for fondant.
Good luck with it and be sure to post pictures when you get it done!
Thanks for the great ideas everyone. Mccorda, what is your rationale for buttercream? I want to keep this pretty simple. I don't want to get too carried away. Am I right in thinking the stuff I make out of gumpaste I can make way ahead of time? I thought I might make steps and stuff out of gumpaste so that when it got close to time, it would just be the cake and assembling.
Part of it is that I'm not very experienced with fondant. I've only made it once and only covered an 8 in round so far. The cake I'm planning is going to be somewhere around a 3-layer 12x18 not including the roof. Plus, I don't have the confidence to roll out anything that big or to try to piece the walls for fear the weight will make them fall off. I've used buttercream forever and know what I can do with that.
Yes, you can make parts out of gumpaste ahead of time. They will need time to dry, so making them ahead of time is best.
I have some of these impression mats:
http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/gumpaste/impression-mats/impression-mats.htm
I have used the brick one before. It works best to make the impression and then do some kind of color to make the bricks "pop" out from the "mortar".
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