I have a customer whose daughter is graduating with a major in audiology. She wants a cake shaped like an ear - carved, not an edible image. Anyone have suggestions as to how I go about doing this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

They did an ear cake recently on Ace of Cakes - went around taking pictures of everyone's ear, then copied the one they like best.

WAY over my skill level LOL

Yes, if you could catch that episode of Ace of Cakes it would be a great help because they showed a lot of detail on how she carved it. She just took a two layer rectangular cake (I believe) and a picture to look at and carved away.

if you have them, you could start with the oval pans and then go from there...i would check out the kids toy "my potato head" and get a good look at a 3D ear when not attatched to a head. Go to the store, open the box, make a few sketches and take digital pictures. I think it would be a great place to start. I have done this with several things and the store clerks who "catch me" think its fun and a hoot. some even help me find better angles or ideas.
good luck, plaese post a picture when you are done.

I second what all the pp's wrote. Just Google 'human ear' and check out the images. If you can get to see Ace of Cakes and how they carved that one that would definitely be a bounus.

Thanks to all of you! I googled human ear, got a good picture. I will also check out the ear from MR. Potato head. It's going to be quite a challenge, but I'm going to go for it!

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1208680.html
Here's an ear cake from lolo2024. It might help.