Sunday, January 15, 2012

Making a Piano Keyboard Cake

Making a piano keyboard cake...


 Coming up with ideas for cakes can sometimes be a challenge...but not this one.  Our daughters are all blessed with musical abilities and there was never a question!

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Obviously a cake to feed less than 10 people needs to be a smaller cake, but I'm going to make a keyboard for a grown daughter who LOVES the piano.  I already know I will make the white keys out of fondant, but the black keys????

Then it came to me....KitKats!  Could they work????



Next, color the fondant.  Do NOT forget to wear gloves.  That's important...unless you would like to add color to your body.  I used Ameri-Gel Super Black.  Many times for cookie icing I start with a brown and add black.Because adding a lot of black usually makes a bitter icing...almost medicine tasting.   But this time I just went straight to the black and a relatively small amount made a beautiful dark color today.



I rolled out the fondant a medium thick and began to find the measurements for covering the candy "key"
 The size was obviously altered and then wrapped gently around the Kit Kat.
Make sure you put the remnants in a bag or under a small bowl so that it does not dry out.



 The first key was made and smoothed and left on the rack to dry a bit.  Isn't it cute?



 Cake was trimmed, stacked and crumb-coated  the night before.



The day is BEAUTIFUL and COLD !
And I was excited to see the picture in my head come to life.  Would it really work?
 Now, I admit I had to measure to find the ratio of the key widths.  It was almost 2:1




Who knew...butter, sugar, cake and math!
I am always amazed that so much math can be involved !!!
The other thing that constantly makes my heart flutter is to see how all the little touches make such a difference.  One of these days I'm gonna learn how to make sharp edges.  I truly have watched U-Tubes and gone to blogs and practiced...promise.  My skills are improving...slowly.  Just how many cakes do I have to do before I get those edges?  But hey...shells are really okay!




A few gum paste roses, leaves and writing...
a MINI keyboard!


I think this is my favorite  part...the part where those you love and bake for finally get their cakes.


Why is that?  I'm not a pro, but some cakes take all that time in the  planning, the baking, the decorating, the  anticipation.  Then that moment of completion, where utter relief washes over you.  And last of all the "reveal" where you feel such a sense of accomplishment and joy....all to have it cut and eaten and turned into crumbs...all in a matter of minutes. 

In what other medium do we take so much effort to make something only to have it destroyed in moments and yet think that's a good thing?

I LOVE baking!

15 comments:

  1. So beautiful, Sis Brenda. I love making cakes but mine pale in comparison to yours (and my mother, lol). Still enjoy it tho. Mother made a piano cake for my ex sister in law several years ago, if I can find the pics I will definately share those with you.

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  2. Oh, please do. I LOVE looking at everyone's ideas! And cameras sometimes hide a multitude of imperfections LOL

    I've had your cakes before....remember? My birthday cake will forever stay in my mind as beautiful and special!

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  3. You are so sweet, Sis Brenda... I could sit and look at cakes for hours, always seeing something new I'd love to learn how to do...

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  4. If I remember correctly, tho, your birthday cake was one of Mother's beautiful creations...

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  5. I guess it was. I still have that moving candle. That was such a surprise! Then that means I haven't seen one of yours. So, you should fix that. LOL

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  6. OMG, this is awesome and simple to me...you made what I wanted to do in my mind come to life. I am trying this for my friend from church who happens to be our piano player for the choir...I will let you know the outcome

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    1. Latina, I haven't heard how your wonderful cake turned out.....Were you able to give your piano player a "piano"? I'd love to hear about it.

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  7. How did you make the white keys? Is that kit kat with white fondant?

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  8. White keys are just rolled and cut white fondant. I measured our keys on the piano, cut and let them dry quite a bit before adding on top of iced cake. Did not use Kit Kat on white because I wanted sharp edges. Thank you for your interest.

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  9. How many cake boxes did you use and what sizes did you bake and then cut them to make the general shape? Thanks!

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    1. I am so sorry this is such a late response. Lots of life things have caused me not to get on my blog. But to be honest this was just a modified quarter sheet cake and since we celebrated at the house, I did not use a box. The only problem I could see with a box is the height. Sometimes I use 2 boxes and face them to where the tops will meet above like a tent and tape the top and open the flaps to create the space for transporting taller cakes...If I had used a half sheet I would have had a larger key board and would have continues making more keys. I had on this cake a double quarter sheet where I cut the top layer back 3 1/2 inches to make the platform for the keys.

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    2. Cut out may have been more like 4 inches deep.

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  10. Sweet, beautiful and delish cakes, cookies---pies and all those other sweets that you make Sweetie----

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