Sea Monster cake

by Gonzuela Bastarache
(Moncton, New Brunwick, Canada)

I started out with 2 rectangular 12" cakes and laid them end to end to make a 2 foot long cake which I used for the "sea". I made 5 round rice crispie circles that were approximately 5 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick which I later used as bases to help support the seamonster head and humps. I cut 1/2" deep and approx. 5" round holes in the cake to insert my bases at the points I wanted to later insert my head and humps and then frosted and wrapped the entire cake in blue fondant (the rice crispie circles should be higher than the cake but I made a note of the center of each of the rice crispie circles by also inserting toothpicks in the centers as my "makers" so they would poke through the fondant). I then used a butterknife to thinly frost the top and part of the sides of the cake in buttercream frosting in 2 different shades of blue to look like waves. To make the "sea monster" I made 2 log rolls out of some sturdy chocolate fudge that were about 10 to 12" long and shaped them into "U's" and let them harden for a few hours. I made a 3rd chocolate fudge log about 4" tall and left that one straight. I made a little ball out of rice crispies mix for my seamonster head and fed a bamboo skewer through the 4" log and poked it through about 1" on and placed the rice crispie head onto it. I left about 2" of skewer on the bottom and cut off the excess (this will go into the cake to hold up the head). For extra support I added about 8 toothpicks in a circle all around the bottom to also help hold the head on the cake. I cut 8 4" skewers and put 2 in each end of the "U's" I created which are going to be my seamonster "humps" sticking out of the water. I cut hundreds of tiny fondant circles (in different colours) which I used for scales and layered them like "roof shingles" all over the chocolate fudge rolls and used some gumpaste glue to attach them. I handpainted green and silver lustre dust on the scales using vodka to make them shiny and more "fish like". I made a face for my sea monster by wrapping the ricecrispie head in fondant and making some scales and eyes & mouth with teeth and dripping blood. I also made a tiny "tail" out of fondant and stuck that into the back of the cake. It was small and didn't require extra support. I then removed my "marker" tooth picks from the cake and inserted my seamonster head and humps and did some touch-up frosting around the bottom of the heads and humps. I added a small fondant boat and island. I covered the island in brown sugar to look like sand. Voila! Cake is finished!