I was asked to make this cake for my friend’s brother’s 40th Birthday. As with all the novelty cakes I make, I thoroughly enjoyed making it, but wish I could command an army of minions to sculpt and model the sugarpaste with expert precision!
I wanted the camera to be a similar size to the ‘real thing’, so in order for the cake to be big enough to be shared by their whole family, I made one large rectangular cake and cut it down to create a square ‘cutting cake’ and I cut and stacked the offcuts to create a basic shape of the camera itself.
I filled the chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and applied a thin crumb coat before popping it in the fridge to firm up prior to covering in fondant icing. I used isomalt for the lenses and screen and I also made peppermint creams for the buttons, dials and around the lens. (I’m not a huge fan of masses of fondant icing and I wanted to experiment!)
Ready made writing icing finished off the look of the cake and by the end, I was more than ready for that cold beer to toast to another relatively successful creation!
My Verdict: I gave this one a 6.5/10. I had wanted to create a textured look to the body of the camera, but it didn’t really show. The peppermint cream bits cracked and didn’t take the silver paint very well. The detail on the isomalt lens was also slipping down and I feel the whole thing could be a lot tidier. I was, however, pleased with the buttons and the dials and each time I use isomalt, I think of more possible uses for it. The majority of my score goes to the flavour and moist, rich deliciousness provided by the chocolate cake – The true star of the show, in my humble opinion!
Here’s some pictures of the actual camera – Permission to use these photographs has rather kindly been given by Chris Gampat at the Phoblographer. Taken from his review of the Fujifilm X100s:
