What type of cake do you give a graduating accountant? Why an adding machine/printing calculator cake of course! A friend of mine text me asking me to make one for her husband's graduation party and I accepted the challenge! I was very nervous, as this was my first sculpted cake!
The night before I started working on the cake I cut the keys out of fondant. Because I wanted to make it to scale, I used a photo of an actually printing calculator. And then used the algebra my momma taught me! :) The width of almost all of my keys is 5/8 of an inch. I then cut a 2" wide strip of gum paste approximately 6" long and laid it over a quart jar overnight to dry.
The next day I started by making 2 9"x13" cakes and placing one on top of the other and shaping the top one (actually only using about 1/3 of it) to make the top of the calculator! I apologize I have no photos, this was a pre-blog cake. Then came butter cream in between the layers and covering the cake!
I rolled out the fondant to 17"x23" to ensure it covered the entire cake then placed it atop. Fondant must be smoothed from the inside outward to ensure no air is trapped, then smooth around the sides and trip the excess.
I cut black 2"x9" piece of fondant for the screen and dusted it with Moonstone luster dust. This was my first experience with luster dust as well and you have to be VERY careful not to put too much (because it will literally change the color of your fondant, like you have painted it) I put too much and ended up kneading it in which worked fine!
I used a black AmeriColor Gourmet Food Writer to put the numbers and or letters and to write the message on the gum paste "tape".
I used gum glue (1/4 t gum paste dissolved in 1 T of water) to affix everything to the cake. Toothpicks were needed to support the "tape". I piped the words onto the screen (the green numbers were made from a mixture of 2 parts piping gel and 1 part butter cream and then I tinted it green).
And there you have it! The calculator graduation cake!
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