This cake was for a 90th birthday. The birthday girl worked for years on a switchboard, as did my grandmother. It was a fun cake to make, but I have to say, I felt a little pressure. HA!
The receiver and all of the other bits are made of modeling chocolate. I painted the bronze bits with a melted shortening and dust mix, which I do not recommend. It went on okay, but you can’t move the pieces without smudging them and it never dries. It was a technique I’d heard about, and thought I’d try, but it didn’t work out.
I covered the cake in white fondant and textured it with both the dull and sharp sides of a knife. But what really ended up giving it the woodgrain texture was going back and forth with a wide brush and a lot of gel/vodka paint. The colour wasn’t right at first, but I found when I repeatedly brushed it on, and it got sticky, it started to create a very convincing woodgrain effect! Yay!
I hope you like it!