Retirement Cake.....beach Scene

Decorating By itsmylife Updated 12 Dec 2006 , 10:05am by jo_ann

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itsmylife Posted 11 Dec 2006 , 10:30pm
post #1 of 6

Okay... a guy my husband works with is retiring in January and they asked me to do the cake.

They want a beach scene with a guy sitting in a chair holding a beer.

I was thinking that I could do a half sheet.... use brown sugar for sand and that blue gel for the water... but for the guy... I'm at a loss.

There is no stipulation that the guy and the chair be edible - but I think they do want it to be 3D - something actually sitting on top of the cake.

Any thoughts?
Denise

p.s. the guy retiring is a detective.... I want to try to get something incorporated into the cake that has some reference to what he's been doing for the past 25 years.

5 replies
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karateka Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 12:46am
post #2 of 6

You could model him out of fondant or candy clay.... and put one of those "Sherlock Holmes" hats on him while he's sitting there in his swimsuit.

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ckkerber Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 1:11am
post #3 of 6

Not sure about the design . . . but what about using crushed graham cracker crumbs for the sand? The brown sugar looks a bit better but you might not want to eat a mouthful of it.

Is he a P.I. kind of detective or a police detective? If he's the former, it might be cute to have a magnifying glass, Sherlock Holmes hat, etc . . . floating out in the water as if he's just tossed them all and washed his hands clean of them. If he's a police detective, I know it's awfully sterotypical but what about a box of donuts next to his chair?

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arosstx Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 1:38am
post #4 of 6

I did brown sugar on a cake (in my pics) - not a lot, just enough to give the 'impression' of sand. I didn't want to pile it on!

As for the figure, sometimes beach souvenier shops have stuff like what you're talking about, or maybe Oriental Trading Company or a place like that where you could just buy it and place it on the cake.

Good luck!

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itsmylife Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 3:45am
post #5 of 6

hmmmm hadn't thought about graham cracker crumbs... I guess I need to compare those two side by side to see which one looks like better sand.... I don't know if I'm skilled enough to do a person out of fondant.

I could scout out the beach shops..I like that idea... I live outstide of Tampa... so beach shops are a-plenty here.

The guy retiring is a police detective... retiring after 25 years with the sheriff's office here.

I could throw a couple of palm trees on there too.... any ideas on making those too?

Thanx!
Denise

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jo_ann Posted 12 Dec 2006 , 10:05am
post #6 of 6

I did one for a retirement. I used choc covered pretzels for the tree trunk and fondant leaves and coconuts. I also used the graham crackers for the sand. It came out really cute. There's a pic in my photos

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