Monday, May 11, 2009

Gone fishing (again)

A friend of Eric's once commented that our small DVD collection should belong to a seven year old, not two thirty-something professionals. Perhaps he was right in that a few too many Harry Potter movies and Pixar animated flicks fill the shelf. In my defence, most DVDs in my possession were gifts; however, I admit that Finding Nemo and Ratatouille do rank extremely high amongst my list of all-time favourites. So when the opportunity to make a Nemo cake for a clownfish-loving two year old named Kara came up, it was hard to refuse.

Don't you love Nemo's little cheeks?


A 6" dome, a 9" round and an 8" square cake were first assembled together before Nemo was carved freehand. Chocolate and vanilla cake with vanilla mousseline and strawberries were chosen flavours. Although the original intention was for 30 servings, I have a feeling this Nemo could have fed closer to 45 servings! (For scale, the cake board used was 16" x 24" in dimension.)


Nemo was covered in rolled fondant and coloured with both airbrushing and hand painting. The purple and gold corals were made of rock sugar while the green sea weed was very rudimentary pulled sugar. I wanted to give an underwater effect by adding a sheet of clear blue bubble sugar. Ultimately, the Nemo cake was so convincing that Kara reportedly tried to hug the cake, confusing it for her Nemo stuffed toy. If that isn't a true compliment, I don't know what is! Happy Birthday Kara!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow... just... wow. That is an awesome cake! and you are not alone in your love of Nemo and Ratatouille! I love them, too. And The Lion King. :P

rlbates said...

Wonderful cake!!!

Harp said...

That cake and variations on sugar are brilliantly INSANE! What a masterpiece! All you need now is The Little Mermaid to keep the Crab and Nemo company!

pk8 said...

Yes, this cake was a masterpiece. Thanks Charm!! Kara loved it. It fed 40 people with leftovers in the fridge. So yummy!

morgana said...

Amazing cake. I love it!!! Great job.

Ramya Kiran said...

That looks so real. Wonderful job. I guess you've loads of patience. Wish i could see a slice of this cake.

curiousdomestic said...

Wow, that's so adoreable! Excellent cake!

Swan of Frugality said...

That is just fantastic. Inspirational!

Anonymous said...

What an amazing piece of art!!! I would love the exact same cake for myself!!! sylvia

Anonymous said...

Wow that cake is amazing and adorable! I just started using fondant with varied results but I hope one day I could be a fraction of how skilled you are with using it. Great job!

Madam Chow said...

I wish someone would make a cake like that for me, and it sounds like we have similar DVD collections!

Unknown said...

That is just the most amazing cake that I have EVER seen. It takes me back to my last character cake; Mum gave me a Garfield cake for my 16th birthday & when I got home from school, it was to find our dog eating it off the dining room table. He was then violently sick and scattered decapitated Garfield all over the room!

natalie said...

what a nice cake! you re amazing I just discovered your blog and it s really nice. you re very talented

LBM said...

"Fish are friends. Not food. Fish are friends. Not food." :)

Boy, this is AWESOME!

yutjangsah said...

this cake makes me smile.

Maria said...

The Nemo is so cute!!!! Compliments, Maria

Keith said...

I think that looks great. I sent you another comment on another post. I was signed into another account. Have a great weekend.

Unknown said...

Wow this is the cutest cake I have seen! Where is your contact info? Would love to get some more info.

Charmaine said...

Janice: Thank you for your cake request but unfortunately June 21st is much too close. In the future, please include your email address and I would be happy to contact you directly. I purposely do not include my email address because of all the spam I get!

Gina B said...

Hello,

This is a fantastic cake!! I am about to make a nemo cake and I love your sugar work, I have never made it before and can find recipes on how to do it but how did you get the sugar art to stand up like that?
Thanks so much !
Gina