Lobster Engagement Cake

by Kristin Weldon Peri
(Media, PA, USA)

I baked 2 cakes in 11x15 pans. Then I torted them, filled them and stacked them, one on top of the other. Once the stacked cake had been chilled in the refrigerator, I removed it and carved the lobster shape.

I made myself a pattern by drawing a rough lobster-shaped outline onto cardboard and then cutting it out. Place the cardboard pattern on top of your cake and begin carving. Once you get the basic shape, remove the pattern and carve free-hand, rounding out the edges, and making indentations for the head/neck area and tail. Chill the cake again, and then cover it in red buttercream icing. Use the edge of a thin dowel to mark tail indentations (to make it look segmented) in the buttercream while it's still soft.

Roll 2 little balls of black fondant for the eyes. Roll 4 small pointed sausages of red fondant for the tentacles at the front of the lobster's face/mouth area. Just push them into the buttercream to make them stick.

The claws and arms are made of extra cake that was carved-off when making the lobster shape. Use 2 pieces of extra cake for each arm (1 small and 1 long), and 2 for each claw. Ice them in red buttercream, and cover them in red fondant. Once the fondant is on, shape the claws with your hands to make them look realistic. Put a dab of water on the end of each piece of arm/claw, and push them together to create the finished arms/claws. Brush the joints of the arms/claws with brown food-coloring to add dimension. Scatter some brown sugar around the base of the cake to mimic sand. The seashells are fondant pressed into a shell candy mold.