This year for Thanksgiving, I had some extra time on my hands. Usually, I end up making pies, but this year, I only had to make one. Hmmmm.....What should I do with all that extra time? What to do....what to do..... I should think that would be obvious. Make a turkey cake, of course!
I started with 3 layers of cake:
and carved it into a turkey-ish shape. Do you have any idea how many different shapes of turkeys there are? I looked up about fifty pictures of turkeys on the internet so I would have a model to go by, and I found about fifty different shapes to carve. In the end, I decided to wing it. Get it? WING it? Ok, so a decent sense of humor is not required for carving a turkey, sue me.
I then used Rice Krispy treats to shape legs and wings, (I promise, I am out of wing jokes) and covered them in white chocolate so the fondant would stick to them.
I frosted the cake, and then covered it in fondant, and added a dent. I know it looks like a mistake, but it isn't. I promise. I did not accidentally stick a finger or thumb into the fondant. This little dent is on purpose.
I know we jumped a few steps here, but they were boring to most people, anyway. This is the finished cake. I colored the fondant with some food coloring, and stuck the legs and wings on. Notice the pop-up timer? There it is, proof that the dent was on purpose. I made some lettuce, fruits, and veggies to garnish the board. It looked pretty plain when it was just a turkey on a foil covered board. The stuffing is the cake I carved off. Hey, I had to do something with the leftovers. Waste not, want not, you know? If you think I was going to take the time to make fondant stuffing with little celery bits, you've got another thing coming. Do you have any idea how much time that would take? Ok, not very long. But still, the cake was just sitting there, begging to be used. So what if nobody would be able to eat it because it would dry out and be disgusting? I am more concerned with the effect. It almost looks like real stuffing. So there.
Lettuce, lemons, and corn. Now, I know they are not to scale. I was working with limited amounts of fondant, here. I didn't want to have to make a whole new batch of fondant, just to make the garnish look more realistic and life sized. They turned out really cute, anyway.
Here, we have an orange and an apple. I know that seems obvious, but for those that may be fruit challenged, I thought I better specify. My nephew asked me if they were made of cake. I said no, and he looked so confused. I then explained that they were made of marshmallows. You should have seen his eyes light up! He asked me in a soft, reverent voice, if he could eat it. I said yes. He looked like all his dreams had come true. I gave him one of each kind of fruit and veggie. Even one of the pumpkins, which I did not post a picture of. I figure that everyone should know what a pumpkin is.
Everyone was afraid to cut the cake. I finally had to cut it myself, or it would all go home with me. I seriously did not need that to happen. The legs and wings went first, just like a real turkey. There was a yellow cake, a white cake and pumpkin chocolate chip. The pumpkin layer was my favorite. Soooo good. I will definitely have to make that one again.
Colton was a good sport, and didn't eat his turkey leg until I got a good picture of him. He later complained that it was good, just too much white chocolate. Is there such a thing? I don't think so.
Celisa chose a wing. (Insert your own wing joke here, mine have flown the coop.) I don't think I have ever seen someone eat a wing joint first, have you? In that respect, I decided that this was better than a real turkey. No bones.
What do you do after you have had turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and turkake? Why play cards, of course. I would have thought that was obvious, as well.
When I first brought the turkey into the house, a few people thought I was really carrying a turkey. There were many comments on the fact that we didn't need another turkey, and they were a bit upset, or maybe confused that I would just decide to bring a turkey without telling anyone. When they realized it was cake, there was a general sigh of relief from the family. It was worth all the work just for that moment. :)
My nephews and nieces posted pictures of it on facebook immediately. Within minutes, I was hearing comments from around the world. Ok, maybe only the nation, or maybe it was mostly around the state, but there were comments, nevertheless. I put this on my cake blog, but facebook and my neices and nephews beat me to it. What a technologically advanced world we live in. It never ceases to amaze me.
This was a fun adventure for the holiday, but does this mean I have to top it next year? Not possible. Might as well give up now. Leftover turkake, anyone?
