Porsche Panamera Cake
I was hired to do a Porsche cake. Having never done a car cake before, I found it instrumental to buy the Mike McCarey Classic Car cake class on www.craftsy.com. (Try saying that fast three times!) Mike is an excellent teacher, having a laid-back style and a calm sense of humor. He taught everything, from where to find online blueprints to how to paint tires, and everything in-between.
Here is a breakdown of the major steps I took to make this car --
First, I found a picture of the car I wanted to make, then found the blueprints. I had a blueprint company re-size the blueprints so that the hood of the car (from the side view) was 3" tall, then he adjusted the rest of the blueprints to match. I had him laminate them, plus make extra copies that I used later to cut out details, like size of windshield, sun roof, etc.
I baked two long cakes then cut them in half through the middle, to make four layers of cake. Looking back, I could have just used three layers and I would've had enough cake. I laid the top view blueprint on top of each CHILLED layer and cut it out, taking care to cut in
the edging details. I marked the front of the cake with toothpicks so that when I layered them later, I would know which end was which. At THIS point, the toothpicks were sticking out the front end of each layer, like headlights.
I then stacked, crumb-coated, and chilled until solid. Note the toothpicks, below. (I put the toothpicks up and down here.)
I used a little buttercream to affix the side pattern of the car to the cake. Taking my time, I began to carefully cut away excess cake.
After cutting out the basic design, I used a paring knife to gently cut and round and soften the edges of the "car." (Mike McCarey video demonstrates this.)
I ended up using four coats of buttercream until I was satisfied. Before adding fondant, make sure to re-measure using blueprints, then cut to adjust. My hood, in the picture below, was too rounded and had to be adjusted. Also remove any tiny bumps of cake that you come across. Work patiently with the buttercream until it is nice and smooth, then let chill until totally hard. Once it was hard, I found it helpful to use a spatula in hot water (then dried off); the hot metal seemed to help "melt" the buttercream a little as I was trying to smooth it.
I covered it in fondant. At this point, I used a dull-edged tool to "tuck" the fondant underneath the cake before making any cuts. Then I began to carefully cut the fondant away.
Cutting up the extra blueprint to use for individual details, I cut out the wheel wells but needed to adjust the size; I lifted the blueprint up a bit until it looked right. Once happy with the look, I marked the outline lightly with a tool, then removed the blueprint piece. I cut out with an X-acto and lifted out the fondant. At this point, I also marked anything, like the doors, the hood, any details. (Mike McCarey video shows this in detail.)
This, below, was the trickiest part of the cake, having to cut out the wheel wells at the edge of the table because I had to cut the cake board away first! See the Mike McCarey video for this! You must measure carefully or else your tires will not fit!!
(I cut too deep on one side and my tires were going in too far. So to remedy the situation, I used a thick strand of spaghetti, put a piece of black gum paste on it to make up the 1/2" difference in the cut, added some royal icing to both sides, and put it into the cake. I added the tire outside of that. It was tricky!! I had to be sure and put a hole in part of the tire before the tire dried, so that I could attach it to the spaghetti/gum paste after the tire was dry...)
I buttercreamed the inside of the wheel well then covered that wheel well with black fondant. I used Mike McCarey's lesson on how to measure the fondant for the interior wheel well.
Below you see the cake with all the wheel wells put in, as well as a "paint job." For the shine: I used half light Karo syrup and half clear vodka, mixed well, then gently painted the car to give it a shine BUT I WOULD NOT SUGGEST THIS. It dries shiny and dry to the touch. It was the first time I'd done this. It was an issue, and I'm not sure why, but as it dried it formed little bubbles. If anyone knows why this happened, or if you have a better way to give a cake a shine, please let me know by emailing me at cakesofthehamptons@aol.com. Thank you!
UPDATE: A fellow cake decorator told me that a shiny spray is on the market.
Here are the bubbles, below. I had to keep brushing and brushing to keep the bubbles off.
Next, I rolled out black gum paste for the tires and let it "set." I had to roll out the proper "thickness." I cut with a round cutter. Using the Mike McCarey method, I used smaller cutters to make imprints inside the tire, for the wheel. (It totally pays to get Mike's Classic Car class at craftsy.com!!)
I "painted" them with the Karo/vodka mixture to give it a shine then let dry. I had no problems with bubbling here, for some reason.
I used silver paint to paint the wheels. Make sure you let the gum paste get hard, otherwise your tire will look "flat." Mike McCarey used chocolate for his wheels. I am just not used to working with modeling chocolate and was pressed for time so didn't want to learn a new skill during this process.
Next come the details...Here is the cake drum. I covered it with a flagstone pattern to make it look like a circular driveway. There are cuts where it's joined but the car covers most of this.
You have to "lift" the cake up somehow to give room for the tires. I pulled the cake to the edge of the table and measured the difference to find out how much clearance I needed. (Again, the car class is helpful here!) I needed 1/4" clearance so I found a cake drum that was 1/4" high and cut out a piece that would support the car cake. I covered it in buttercream then gray fondant to match the flagstone driveway to sort of camouflage it.
Next come the details. I made edible trees.
Below you can see the edible flowers, the hand-painted wheels, the side view mirror, the markings for the door panels and handles, and the silver hand-painted trim around the window.
I used an extruder with black fondant and a small circle extruder tool for the window trim, then painted it with edible silver paint. I found that using a flat-edged brush, rather than a round brush, actually worked well in painting the window trim.
You can see the details in the headlights, bumper, the markings of the hood, and the detail in the windshield.
Below is the Porsche logo that goes on the hood. This was not edible because it was just so tiny that it was a waste to use an edible image. I printed out various sizes so I could choose when the time came.
And here you go! A Porsche cake! The customer LOVED it!!
