Garden Cake

by Pam Williams
(Oak Ridge, TN)

This homemade garden cake was for a gentleman who turned 90 years old and loved to work in the garden. And he worked on lawnmowers as well. The cake was rather easy to create. It was a basic white cake with a coconut butter cream filling.

I made all the fencing details out of fondant and then painted it with food coloring with a little bit of vodka, textured to made to look like wood. I just attached it to the cake with butter cream. I made all the veggies out of the fondant. The dirt was made out of ground up Oreo's cookies. I used buttercream to make the leaves and vines in the garden and the purple flowers on the fence.

The lawnmowers and signs were made out of fondant and were also painted with food coloring and vodka. I made a hoe and attached it to one of the signs with glue that I made from gum paste and water. (Be sure to let the gum paste dissolve in the water and use a paint brush to brush a small amount on the spot you want to be attached.)

I also made a tool box with a few tools in it. These were made out of gum paste that I just shaped by looking at a picture. I then painted them with food coloring and vodka.

The basket and veggies on the cake board were made out of fondant and then glued on with buttercream. To get the signs and corn to stand up in the cake: I first inserted straws. And then later put the ends into the straws.

This garden cake turned out really nice. The birthday cake recipient loved it! I hope you have a lot of fun making it too!