This is a cake I made for my father-in-law’s 70th birthday. He is an avid reader and book collector and always says that the best gift you can give him is a book. So I made him one in cake! I wanted the book to have a vintage, leather-bound feel. I didn’t have an impression mat, but got the leather texture by a very technical process (not!) of crumpling up some aluminum foil, smoothing it back out and then pressing it into the fondant with a rolling pin. I added some gold painted detailing on the spine of the book to add to the antique feel.

My favourite part of this cake was actually the cake board. I had so much fun creating the wood grain and painting it to resemble a rustic wood table top. He loves a good cup of coffee while he reads, so I added a “Grandpa” coffee mug, that I made of RKT and that he could keep it as a souvenir. It was also personalized with the title of the book, with “LEP” referring to his nickname based on the initials of his last name.

The cake was a big success at his 70th surprise birthday party that took place this weekend and was very well-received by my father-in-law and all the guests. Hope you like it too :) Thanks for looking! xx