Edible Air Jordan Kicks

You ever wait for an opportunity to try something new and then when it arrives you find yourself wondering what you were thinking?? Well, I had been waiting for the opportunity to make a sneaker cake and the time has arrived.

I work for a family owned apparel company that owns the license to design children's clothing for different brands like Levi's, Nike, Jordan and Converse. The president's birthday was coming up and the family reached out to me and my fellow cake-decorating co-worker to make a masterpiece cake representing all the brands as well as a few of his favorite things.

It was a large, highly-detailed order... this is the sketch my co-worker designed.

Here's a breakdown of our to-do list:

Me

Air Jordan 4 sneaker

Nike 6.0 surfboard

Nike shoe box

Levi's jeans

Haagen-Dazs container

Co-worker

Warehouse

Converse iPad

Mets cap

Starbucks cup

Jets & Birthday banners

I jumped at the task of creating the sneaker. We both wanted to do it but my enthusiasm won me the assignment - plus we both had our hands full.

Since the bulk of the cake was going to be the warehouse and shoe box, I made the sneaker from cereal treats. I was replicating a kid's size Air Jordan 4 (IV) - which [according to Wikipedia] was the first Jordan shoe released on the global market and became an international bestseller.

I coated the cereal treat sneaker shape with some icing in an attempt to smooth it out and covered it in white fondant.

I used the real sneaker to gauge the right size of all the details. I'm not gonna lie... I traced some of the piecings onto parchment paper to make templates. Yes, this took a looooong time. I think it was at this point that I reached the "what was I thinking?!?!" stage.

I used edible markers to fill in some details and draw the Jordan Jumpman logo on the tongue. The most fun was making the laces look as if they were really laced.

I hand cut the back Jumpman logo from fondant.

You can't really see it but I also added the air-bubble in the sole.

This sneaker needed it's own post... the rest of the cake will follow.