Lil' Sprout's Birthday Drums

My newest cake challenge was to create a cake featuring a complete drum kit.  My original plans were to attach the Tom tom and the Snare to the Bass drum but because the cake store didn't have the size box I needed, I had to switch to a two layer cake rather than a large sheet cake. That meant the whole construction would be to unwieldy for the smaller cake size. So I had to place the smaller drums on the 'ground' in front of the Bass.

Now, they didn't ask for it but I just thought the baby needed to be represented and his dad's drums were there but where was the mom? Well, Mom has red hair so Lil'sprout does, too.  He's lying on a baby blanket and playing with Dad's drum sticks.

The basic sculpture is made from Rice Krispie treats.  I don't make my own treats because weather can make home made batches soft. The store bought product is always perfect.  I stack and squeeze the treats into a block and then use a steak knife or cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.  I let the shapes harden and then use royal icing to give them a crumb coat. The icing fills in the nooks and crannies and hardens which gives a smoother effect on the fondant. I let the shapes sit for at least 24 hours. They need to be very hard.




While the shapes are hardening, I roll out and cut as much of the fondant as I can. I wanted the drum heads to be as smooth as possible so I used the same cutter as I used for the drums and cut the heads out on wax paper - fondant peels away from wax paper easily. I let the drum heads dry for 24 hours, also. When they were dry I used royal icing to attach them.

Then I rolled out the blue fondant for the sides. I measured and cut the panels and the iced the sides of the drums and rolled the side panels onto the drums. I pressed the seams together to make them dissappear. Again the sculpture needed to dry 24 hours.

As you can see this type of cake sculpture takes several days to complete! The next day I rolled out snakes of white fondant and pressed it to the outside edge where the drum head and the side panel meet. I press and mold to cover the seams and I used a small paint brush dipped in water to glue to two pieces together. I made little losenge shaped pieces and brushed them with silver powder, then attached them to the drum heads with royalicing also. They represent the nuts that hold the heads on t real drums.

You can only do one side of the drums a day because the fondant has to be hard when you turn it over to work on the other side.  Once both sides were done I set them aside to work on the baby. I'll tell you briefly how to make him and post a more in depth tutorial at a future date. I molded his bum out of white fondant. First rolling a ball and then flattening one side if it. I molded the upper body from flesh colored fondant. It is a cone shape with both ends slightly flattened. Dab a little water on the smaller end and press it onto the bottom piece. Set aside. Roll a ball for the head from the flesh colored fondant. I used the end of a tiny paintbrush (reserved for food only) into the fondant to form eye holes and one for the mouth. I added tiny white balls for the eyes and a tinier flesh ball for the nose which I formed with a toothpick and then pressed in two nostrils. I used a food marker pen (available from Wilton and others) to draw on little eyelashes and irises in the eyes. I rolled a small ball of flesh color and flattened it into a pancake then cut it in half to make two ears.  Use the end of the paintbrush again to make a depression and dab with water and press to the side of the head. Finally, I rolled a very small ball of white, pressed it flat and pressed the circle to the mouth of the baby. I used the toothpick to make a hole in the whie piece and pushed in a small cylinder of blue to form a pacifier. I used some powdered pink color to color the baby's cheeks and used a toothpick to press some red fondant into a pointed baby hairdo. Set the head aside to dry. Form the legs and arms from cylinders of flesh fondant, making fingers, toes, and wrinkles with a toothpick and a corsage pin.

The cymbals were made by cutting a circle from an aluminum pie pan abd then forming it into a very flat cone. Cut circles of white fondant and apply to the cone.. Use a corsage pin to make concentric circles on the whole cone. When it has dried a little you can brush powdered gold powder on it.

As a finishing touch to the drums I mixed some saphire blue sparkledust with water and painted it on the side palens lf the drums to give them a realistic look. Thedrum sticks were ,molded and them painted with a yellow ochre color.

When all the pieces are finished you can glue them together with water and let them dry. If they don't stay together use toothpicks cut tolength to join the pieces.

The blanket was made by partially mixing some blue and white fondant to obtain a tie-dye effect. It was rolled out and cut into a rectangle. I use a fondant crimper to make the "crochet" pattern around the edge of the blanket.

To assemble I first iced the cake. then I cut a piece of cardboard big enough to hold the drums - it is a triangle shape. I cut holes in the cardboard for three long wooden pegs to go through it. These hold up the base drum. I cut 12 wooden pegs to the height of the cake and pressed them into the cake to support the cardboard platform. The long wooden pegs were pressed into the bottom of the bass drum. The drum was then pressed onto the cake - the pegs going through the cardboard and into the cake but the drum resting on the cardboard.  Now the cardboard is also iced so that it is completely covered. The other two drums were placed on the cardboard platform. The baby blanket isplaced onthe cake. The blanket was made at the last minute - I don't want this piece to dry as it will be shaped over the cake. Now the bake is laidon the cake. I attached the baby's head with a piece of wooden peg and turned it so it was facing out. The baby's hand is holding one of Daddy's drum sticks while the other lays close by.