Bad Romance Birthday Cake

Wow! I just realized it's been a year since I walked into my first Wilton cake decorating class at Michael's. It has been such an exciting year! Is it possible that it was both a long and a short year? When I think back, I can't decide if time went by too quickly or if it was a long year. I guess at times it was a little of each, but overall it was successful.

---------------------------------------------

Lady Gaga is quite an icon of the times with her crazy antics and incredible fashions, not to mention her amazing talent! It's no wonder that my friend chose to have a Lady Gaga themed birthday bash and asked if I would make the cake.

This is the photo I used for inspiration.

Timing was a little rushed - I was working on two other baking projects (almost three) plus working a regular 45 hour week! Needless to say, the pressure was on... but I was up for the challenge.

To make the glittery triangular peaks, like Gaga's Grammy Awards headpiece, I experimented for the first time with making my own gumpaste from the canned powder sold at the bake supply store. Not. A. Good. Idea. It was such a sticky mess! I had to use lots of cornstarch and confectioners sugar to even roll out the gumpaste.

My friend made cardstock templates of the triangles, which helped a lot, but I learned (at the last minute) that I needed more of them so I could lay them out to hold their shape and dry overnight.

Another thing I learned is that I should have tinted the gumpaste grey because when the edible glitter was applied, a lot of the white could be seen glaring through where the glitter didn't stick. The same goes with the cake. I covered the cake in white fondant before spraying it with edible silver cake spray by Chefmaster. The can of spray should have covered about 9 cakes but because I had to layer it so thick to disguise the white, it only covered the 2 cakes I had made.

 My friend also gave me the black sequin trim to put around the cake.

After making enough gumpaste triangle skewers, the next challenge was transporting the cake to the venue by subway. I decided to arrange the glittery topper once the cake made it safely to the party. Luckily nothing broke along the way and I was able to assemble everything without a hassle.

 I think it looks cooler without the flash.

 If I get the opportunity, I'd like to remake this cake with less time constraints or maybe make another crazy Gaga cake... who's up for another party in the name of the Fame Monster??