Baa Humbug

Amazingly, I have been called upon to make this cake twice – admittedly, for the same recipient. Imagine being so fond of gas station convenience store coffee that it’s clearly the most distinctive thing about you!

Now to be fair, I have not personally tasted this coffee and it’s quite possible even Juan Valdez would sing its praises (I know I’m dating myself here, so in case you did not grow up in the 80s….)

In any event, there were two challenges involved in this cake. The first entailed carving a coffee cup that was symmetrical all the way down. Since I tend to have a devil-may-care attitude towards straight lines and proportion, this was more difficult than it appears. With the help of my assistant, I carefully inserted skewers at a consistent angle from the top down and then shaved the cake all the way around until the skewers were revealed (OK, he did it entirely by himself and I hovered nervously in the background).

The second challenge was in recreating the goat on the cup. The first one (pictured) came out just great. The second time however, no matter how diligently I tried, the goat more than slightly resembled a bearded man with disturbingly pointy ears. Needless to say, there is no photographic evidence of this minor fiasco. I have it on good authority that the recipient of the cakes has moved to America so hopefully I can put this particular cake design behind me for good.