A Fish for Dad!

A last minute idea for a small birthday cake for dad...he's an avid fisherman and has been bitten by the Sockeye craze this summer, catching an average of 4-6 salmon each week! Dad will hopefully love this fish, but this one is chocolate!

I've included step-by-step photos of the process - it's pretty well the same for each theme cake that I do, just thought I would post the instructions in cyberspace!

First step is to bake a 9"x13" cake and let it cool completely! Next is the fun part! I took some foam core board and cut out the shape of my fish - this will double as my template and cake board

Once it's carved out, flip it onto the board (put a dab of frosting on the board to keep the cake secure.

Frost the base layer with a generous coat of frosting. I used one recipe homemade chocolate fudge frosting (turns out, only needed to make half the amount).

Next, stack the top layer and begin carving the shape of the fish. I like to round off the edges to smooth out the look of the finished product.

Yes - you'll have lots of carved bits/scraps. Snacks for the chef and/or the kiddies :-)

You can coat the entire carved cake in a crumb coat of frosting. Not too much here...it's just the 'glue' for the fondant.

Time to prepare the fondant! I am tinting with black food colour gel - making the fondant a marbled grey colour.

Once tinted, I rolled out the fondant to a respectable size - more than enough to cover the fish, and about 1/4" thick.

To transport it to the cake, roll the fondant onto your roller...makes it easier.

Oh! Before I forget, I cut up a fruit bar and used it as details on top of the frosted cake...gills, fins and tails have been given details so that the fondant will 'pop.'

A close up of the fruit bar underneath the fondant...gives it a raised appearance.

I also poked an indent for the eye, rolled a small ball and inserted it into position.

The cake has been smoothed out and dusted in a luster dust (silver, pink and silver/pink combo). I dissolved the luster dust with clear vanilla extract (you can also use vodka for this).

Here's the cake during decoration (my favorite part). I've just used silver luster dust (dry) and dotted it onto the "skin" of the fish. I've also used it on the raised portions of the fins and tails to bring out the highlights.

The finished product! Can be stored in the fridge if it's warm out - bring out to room temp before serving though! No need to serve this fish hot!