2019 EISF Entry “The Jungle” Cake

I had so much FUN designing and decorating this Cake. I decorated this large 5 tier “Jungle” themed cake for the Sugar Art competition at the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot, Idaho. It was for the Special Occasion Cake Category. The theme for the category was Jungle. It took First Place in its category. Grand Champion in its category and BEST of Show for the entire Sugar Art Show. I have had several people ask me about the “Design” of the Cake and about the mediums used and techniques …so here is the write up I used with my entry about What I did and Why. Why I did what I did: The theme is jungle …so I wanted this cake to be the “Definition” of jungle; An impenetrable thicket or tangled mass of tropical vegetation. I also wanted to portray the “feel” and the untouched beauty that exists in a jungle. I did this by showing those things that live within the jungle …not only using the vegetation, plants, flowers and trees, but the many amazing and colorful variety of animals and birds that call the jungle home. In designing this cake, I studied a great deal the three major jungle/rainforest regions in the world. Each tier represents one of those regions and the variety of jungle animals and birds you would see there as follows: • The Bottom Tier representing the jungles of South East Asia, starting to the right of the waterfall- Bengal Tiger, Pin Tailed Parrot Finch, Green Tree Python, White Handed Gibbon, Jambu Fruit Bird, Sumatran Rhino, Black Panther, Blue Throated Barbet, Giant Panda, Stork Billed King Fisher, and on the rocks an Oriental Darter Bird. • The Second Tier from the Bottom representing the jungles of West and Central Africa, starting to the right of the waterfall- Western Lowland Gorilla, Yellow Spotted Barbet, African Leopard, White Throated Robin-Chat, Mandrill, Green Turaco, African Elephant, and in the water a Pygmy Hippo.  The Third Tier from the Bottom representing the jungles of Central and South America, starting to the right of the waterfall- Jaguar, Kill Billed Toucan, Orangutan, Quetzal (the national bird of Guatemala), Tapir, Sloth, Macaw, and in the water Black Caiman. For the Fourth Tier from the bottom I wished to further show the wild, untamed beauty of the jungle by illustrating man’s failed attempt at living within it …and what better way than with Jungle ruins. I drew inspiration for this tier from the majestic 12th century Ta Prohm Temple at Angkor, Siem Reap Province in Cambodia. Inspiration for the TopTtier came from researching many different Mayan stone jaguar head carvings. I loved the way the Mayan Jaguar heads sloped in the back and had the mouth wide open baring the teeth in the front. I felt that would be perfect for the opening of a waterfall, which I would use to tie all the Cake Tiers together as “water” is seen as the giver of “life” to the jungle. A List of techniques and mediums I used in creating my entry: Carved/Sculpted the stone Jaguar on the top. Made buttercream & Marshmallow fondant. Buttercream frosted & fondant covered all barrel cakes. Hand painted all animals and scenery. Press/molded ferns & leaves and hand sculpted Mandrill face, vines, trees, bamboo for panda, sloth claws, a green python and elephant tusks to create a low bas-relief. Hand shaped, textured, color washed and painted each rock. Pressed/molded each leaf and fern (used a commercial mold) and hand painted/paint washed them. Made small cut out gum paste tropical flowers and airbrushed them. Hand sculpted and painted Caiman, Hippo, and Oriental Darter Bird. Form/textured/painted a waterfall made from Piping gel & Isomalt. Made Sugar Cookie Moss and applied it. Everything attached to my cake is edible, with the exception of the flower stamens.