Terp Pics, including the cake.
Some pics from Terpsichore at the Tower XIV are posted in my gallery.
A couple of examples (click to enlarge):
Yes, my cake this year was the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and it's box, complete with a brief instruction sheet. A bit of a rush job, with some technically difficulties, so not as detailed or neat as I'd like, but recognizable. There are other angles and close-ups in the gallery.
The box was 10x15 inches, and 4 layers tall (about 8"). The bottom half of the box was chocolate cake, and the top half (hand carved) was vanilla, and was on a separate board so when it was time to serve it, I lifted off the 'lid' of the box and set it on the table to be cut and eaten. Icing was chocolate buttercream (kept adding cocoa until I liked the color) and details were dark chocolate rolled fondant (hand cut). The grenade itself was fondant over a 5" styrofoam ball, and I had some technical difficulties making it (fondant wouldn't stick, first cross broke, pearl mold wouldn't work so I had to make royal icing and pipe the pearls at midnight, gold glaze didn't work so I had to run to the cake supply for a small $11 bottle of edible gold spray paint, etc.). While it is possible to make a sphereical cake, at least the bottom 1/3 is usually styrofoam anyway for support, and I didn't have the time to carve a spherical cake that small.
Despite my awareness of it's deficiencies, folks were impressed by the cake, and at least one person walked by it several times without realizing it was a cake, which is always rewarding.
Okay, one more of the grenade itself:
I also (while I had the camera out) took a few pics during one of the class sessions. Here's elaine_alina teaching her class:
And here's grinnellian2001's class:
As I said, there are a few more nice pics in the gallery
A couple of examples (click to enlarge):
Yes, my cake this year was the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and it's box, complete with a brief instruction sheet. A bit of a rush job, with some technically difficulties, so not as detailed or neat as I'd like, but recognizable. There are other angles and close-ups in the gallery.
The box was 10x15 inches, and 4 layers tall (about 8"). The bottom half of the box was chocolate cake, and the top half (hand carved) was vanilla, and was on a separate board so when it was time to serve it, I lifted off the 'lid' of the box and set it on the table to be cut and eaten. Icing was chocolate buttercream (kept adding cocoa until I liked the color) and details were dark chocolate rolled fondant (hand cut). The grenade itself was fondant over a 5" styrofoam ball, and I had some technical difficulties making it (fondant wouldn't stick, first cross broke, pearl mold wouldn't work so I had to make royal icing and pipe the pearls at midnight, gold glaze didn't work so I had to run to the cake supply for a small $11 bottle of edible gold spray paint, etc.). While it is possible to make a sphereical cake, at least the bottom 1/3 is usually styrofoam anyway for support, and I didn't have the time to carve a spherical cake that small.
Despite my awareness of it's deficiencies, folks were impressed by the cake, and at least one person walked by it several times without realizing it was a cake, which is always rewarding.
Okay, one more of the grenade itself:
I also (while I had the camera out) took a few pics during one of the class sessions. Here's elaine_alina teaching her class:
And here's grinnellian2001's class:
As I said, there are a few more nice pics in the gallery