Character Development

When a customer asks for a “themed” cake like the “Call of Duty” cake I did this week, I usually offer them a few different ways we can interpret the theme. For example, I asked Jennifer if her son would prefer a small tiered-cake with figures and a setting made to look like a scene from the game, or if he’d prefer a 3-d cake in the shape of an element from the game, such as a tank or a helmet. Christian liked the idea of the cake with the figures and asked me to include three things specifically; the logo, Captain Mactavish and the Juggernaut Bomb Suit. When I told Jennifer I could include a figure of her son in the scene to personalize the cake even more, she loved the idea.

The figures I make tend to look more cartoon-y than realistic, so the trick was to not make the cake cute. I looked at loads of photos from the game and “cute” was definitely not what came to mind. A lot of the game seemed to take place in bombed-out cities, so that’s why I used the broken down walls, sandbags and oil drums for the background.

The first character he wanted to include was Captain Mactavish. Here’s the photo he sent and my version made out of fondant:

He also wanted to include the Juggernaut bomb suit:

Jennifer sent me a photo of her son. Here’s the fondant version of Christian ready for battle:

Happy Birthday, Christian!!