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NOT Gluten Free Friday: The Giant Guitar Cake

February 20, 2010
Being a pastor’s wife affords one many opportunities to develop skills in multiple trades. (Actually, being a mom does this too, so imagine the possibilities for my own personal development throughout the years!) Of course, cooking is at the top of that list, and I’ve had the privilege of planning and preparing countless menus and meals in my home and church over the last 18 or so years. And I love it. Some sing and play the piano, some work with children. I seem to cook. (And I do love to teach, but this is recipe Friday, so I’ll stick to cooking today!)
In December I attended a planning meeting of the 30th birthday bash for our amazingly talented worship leader, Cindy P. This was to be a semi-formal event (Cindy loves an opportunity to dress up!) with elegant food, beautiful decor, a talent show, and great music – including a special choreographed dance routine/Michael-Jackson-move-montage! Everyone at the meeting was taking on responsibilities, and when the topic of a birthday cake came up, I had a vision….
…. a guitar cake. A really big guitar cake. (Cindy plays guitar AND viola AND has one incredible voice as well!) One that would feed the large amount of guests we were expecting. (Cindy is everyone’s favorite friend!) I threw out the idea, the group went for it, the meeting was over, and I left for Texas a few days later with guitar cake making its way to the back of my mind. No worries. I’ve made so many “shaped” birthday cakes over the years – dinosaurs, firetrucks, teapots, flower gardens, dragons, spaceships, etc. How hard could it be? Another “shaped” cake – just larger – like about 10 times larger.
The party was February 6th, so on Feb 5th, after an early morning gym workout, Robert and I stopped into Target where we bought 12 yellow boxed cake mixes, 3 dozen eggs, a bottle of canola oil, and about 14 tubs of chocolate and vanilla frosting. Our checkout person was quite fascinated with our purchase and asked what we were up to. When we told her, she got even more excited and reminded us to be sure and take pictures! (I really should go back and try to show her some of these photos. I know she would love it!)
I came home and began baking. Intermittently, between helping the kids with school, and other things, I was able to bake 8 cakes (NOT gluten free) that Friday morning and afternoon. On Saturday, I knew the entire day would be devoted to the cake and then the party. I baked the remaining 4 that morning, and worked on a pattern while they were cooking and cooling. (I only had a rough idea in my mind about how to assemble all of these cakes and had searched for some images of guitar cakes online.) Thankfully, we have more than the average number of guitars per family floating around our house, so I traced one of their cases, and left one guitar out of its case to refer to as I decorated. I also drew and colored a picture of what it would look like with frosting colors and all, just to make sure the vision in my mind was really going to work.
Using the guitar pattern laid out on the pieced together cakes, I cut out the shape. The kids were my astounded audience all day long, throwing out their approval, encouragement, and ideas all throughout the process. Also, my friend Izckra stopped by for a while and “smoothed” the icing for me – quite a tedious job, but it made the cake look so much better! I used my handy Martha Stewart Cake/Cookie Decorating kit which has all kinds of special bags and tips to add some detail and flair. (I have never really learned proper cake-decorating technique – just lots of trial and error with my Martha Stewart kit and LOTS of kiddos birthday cakes!)
Robert took Kory back up to the gym later to lift weights and called on his way home to see if I needed anything. “Peanut butter cups and more icing,” I replied. Peanut butter cups were the only thing I could think of that would make nice tuning knobs (Robert says the technical term may be “machines.”), and Cooper, who is “in” to all things guitar insisted that we also use the cups for the “strap buttons” at the base and side of the guitar. So, I only used 8 peanut butter cups, but somehow the entire bag disappeared in the course of a few short minutes after it was confirmed that I was indeed finished with them. No one seemed to know their whereabouts…
I thought I had created a strong enough base for the cake out of a couple of layers of cardboard and lots of duct tape, but at about 4 1/2 feet long, it was too heavy to carry on its base without sagging in the middle. Robert grabbed a ladder from the garage and he and Kory carried the cake out on the ladder, gently placing it in the back of our van. (We had to fold down the rear seats.) I drove carefully to the church where I was met by Robert and others who helped carry it to the party room, which was already glowing with candlelight and looking so beautiful!

And here’s the beautiful birthday girl blowing out her 30 candles atop the giant guitar cake and labor of love! And that it truly was. Cindy is SUCH a special lady and friend, and I had so much fun creating something for her and her special evening.

Now I am privileged to add “giant guitar cake making” to my unique skill set and resume.

And my husband, the pastor, can add “ability to perform Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ dance to HIS resume. But that is another post all in itself!

(Not sure that makes him very marketable in the ministry department, but a true labor of love on his part, too.)

Happy Birthday, Cindy!

(P.S. Kayla and her friend Mary DID make a gluten free cake for the party and had TONS of fun using the decorating tips and icing.)

10 thoughts on “NOT Gluten Free Friday: The Giant Guitar Cake”

  3. Mel…Remember the Dia de los Muertos cakes we used to have in Spanish class? I'd use black licorice for those…the guitar brought back memories. Happy Birthday to Cindy. Blue skies! K&J

  6. This cake is amazing! I have never seen anyone make a cake like this. You did a great job!!

    Best,
    Hua
    Director of Blogger Networks
    wellsphere.com

  7. Hi mom, good job on the cake, i bet it was a blessing to Cindy. It looks scrumpcious even though i couldn't eat it, just the mere prescence of the masterpiece was satisfying.

  9. Wow, I'm just reading this article now. Indeed, the cake was truly a labor of love, and much appreciated by the birthday girl! My mouth dropped when I saw it. And very tasty, too! Thank you, Melanie… and Izckra… and Robert… and the kids… can we just relive that awesome party over and over again? 🙂

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