Probably my most successful cake to date, I am super proud of this one! 

Ruth: "Would you be interested in doing a minion cake for Kitty please?... it could be as simple as a plain yellow cake with one eye".

Me: Pfft, simple cake... ok google 'how to build cake structures'

I don't think they were expecting this and to be honest, neither was I. I was half expecting it to fail miserably.



Firstly, credit to Ann Reardon at How to Cook whose tutorial largely guided me through the process. 

Whilst I was looking for materials to build my internal structure, I stumbled across something called CakeFrame. It's basically various plastic tubes and joints that click together to create any structure you like. It was ideal, and as an added bonus they sent me a free minion tutorial after I'd purchased the starter kit. I didn't actually follow their tutotiral as part of it involved rice crispie treats but that's the good thing about CakeFrame, you can put it together as you please.

So for everyone dying to see the inside, or wondering how the hell those little legs are supporting that cake, keep reading :)

I baked 3, 6 inch chocolate sandwich cakes, so 6 layers of sponge altogether. I levelled and stacked 5 of them, then placed the 6th on top and carved it in to a dome to shape the minions head. 

A plastic tube runs through the centre of the cake, and collars placed in-between those tubes support two cake boards and the weight of the cakes. The structure gets built as cake gets added, starting with a 4 inch cake board at the bottom.



I cored the centre of 3 cakes and slid them on to the structure adding ganache between each layer. After the first three cakes, I added a collar (the little white ring you can see in the picture below) and more tubing. This collar supports the next board and cakes, and effectively makes two 3 layer cakes to give a normal sized portion when it all gets sliced.



Next I added a 6 inch cake board and the remaining cakes. The top cake does not need to be cored as the tube only goes part way in to it. 

Once I was happy with the shape I iced it with ganache and was pleased when it just about fitted in to my fridge (next to tomorrows lunch). 

I had covered my cake board days earlier so it had time to harden and I wouldn't have to worry about marking it. It was wrapped in cling film to keep it clean.

                        


I was planning to cover the cake in one go with one piece of fondant but thankfully Mr Chris talked me out of that - it would have been a nightmare trying to smooth all those pleats with a cake so skinny and tall. So similar to Ann's tutorial, I covered the top of the cake with one piece, then wrapped the rest of the cake with another. I ended up with a seam around the top, positioned where I could use the goggle strap to cover it, and a seam down the back that would be mostly covered by his dungarees. 

The yellow fondant is the last of my home made marshmallow fondant from Connie's Frozen cake. Using home made and store bought fondant side by side really highlighted their differences. The store bought is much much sweeter and doesn't taste as nice, and the home made is much easier to handle; it has plenty of stretch but doesn't tear easily. The marshmallow fondant can be stored for months. It was very hard when I unwrapped it but a quick 10 seconds in the microwave softened it enough so I could then kneed it.

My cake was roughly A4 size in height so I used an A4 picture for scale. 
As well as witnessing how messey my work area gets, you can see the small lolly pop sticks inserted in to his head that help to support his goggle, and cocktail sticks I used to support his arm until it had dried enough to stay in place on its own.




Keep in mind I work full time (not making cakes), I usually get home from work around 6.30pm, and I would work on the cake from 7 till late... 10, 11, even 12 one night.. and don't forget I have to stop for dinner too! So this is how I broke it down:

               Monday - Covered cake board and made decorations (goggle and streamers)

Planning is key! If you plan it well, you give yourself time to enjoy the whole process or fix anything that doesn't go quite to plan. I'm getting better but there's even more I could have done earlier, like making the ganache and colouring my fondant the weekend before.


The delivery was terrifying as we had a 45 minute drive and although he was pretty solid, he had a good wobble going on. Mr Chris manufactured a box for me and we strategically placed bits of card to wedge him in place. One of the streamers was a little damaged but he made it in one piece.

                       





 







I think it's fair to say he made an impact. At one point I thought there might be tears when we had to cut him but thankfully Ruth held it together and we devoured his head in no time :)