ears to you, dear

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Legend has it that Vincent van Gogh severed his earlobe after a row with fellow artist Paul Gauguin, wrapped it in cloth, and presented it to a prostitute. It has since emerged that more likely the ear was lopped off during a sword fight with Gauguin. Personally, I prefer the proffering of the lobe to the young lady. Has someone ever vowed to give you something of themselves, only to fall short? To avoid all ambiguity, give someone a piece of yourself, preferably in a nice box.

stuff you’ll need

• rolling pin

• baking parchment

• box, bow, and ear templates

• craft knife

• paintbrushes

• serrated knife

• large piping bag and quick-ice tip

• 12 in. (30 cm) square cake board, about 1/2 in. (1 cm) thick, covered with white self-adhesive shelf paper

• small spatula

• palette, for mixing color

• ball tool

• airbrush

• scissors

food stuff you’ll need

• 1 lb. (450 g) red fondant

• 2 tsp. CMC powder

• 1 recipe vanilla cake batter, baked in 1/4 sheet pan

• 3 cups (700 ml) decorator’s buttercream icing

• 6 oz. (175 g) ivory fondant

• super pearl luster dust

• 1 oz. (25 g) white fondant

• gold luster dust

• vodka or lemon extract

• red edible marker

• 3 oz. (85 g) modeling chocolate

• fleshtone airbrush color, or fleshtone-colored dust

• 2 tbsp. Red piping gel

STUFF YOU’LL NEED TO KNOW

Image ROLLING OUT FONDANT

Image ICING A CAKE

Image USING A TEMPLATE

Image APPLYING PAINT AND PEARL DUST

Image BUILDING DETAILS

Image AIRBRUSHING

Image MAKING A PIPING BAG

1 cut out box lid

Mix three-quarters of red fondant with CMC powder and roll out on dusted surface. Cut out piece of baking parchment using heart-shaped box-lid template. Place parchment heart on rolled-out fondant and cut around it with craft knife.

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2 cut out lid sides

Use lid-side template to cut out strip of baking parchment. Following outline of parchment strip, cut out two pieces of red fondant with craft knife.

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3 attach sides to lid

Using water, applied with a stiff paintbrush, fix the fondant side strips in place around the fondant lid top.

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4 harden the lid

Leave the assembled box lid in a cool place for at least 24 hours to dry out completely and firm up.

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5 fix template on cake

Cut out another piece of baking parchment using the cake heart template. Place on the chilled cake using a dab of buttercream icing to hold in position.

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6 cut out cake

Following the outline of the parchment template, carefully cut out the cake heart with the serrated knife.

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7 attach cake to board

Fill large piping bag fitted with quick-ice tip with the buttercream icing and use to place a dab of icing on each corner of the cake. Turn cake over and place in position on the covered cake board.

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8 ice the cake

Pipe more buttercream icing all over the top and sides of cake. Smooth over the entire surface of icing with a small spatula.

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9 cut out box sides

Roll out the remaining red fondant. Cut out a strip of baking parchment using the wider template for the box sides. Following the outline of the parchment strip, cut out two strips of red fondant.

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10 attach box sides

Carefully press the red fondant side strips onto the sides of the iced cake. Trim as necessary.

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11 cut out narrow strips

Use the narrower box-side template to cut out another baking parchment strip. Follow outline of parchment to cut out two more pieces of red fondant. Fix one piece around lower edge of one side of box, using dabs of water. Trim to fit.

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12 fix and trim second strip

Again using dabs of water, fix the second narrow strip of red fondant around lower edge of the other side of the box. Trim as necessary.

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13 add lining

Cut out a piece of baking parchment using the box-lining template. Roll out ivory fondant and cut out two oblong pieces, following the outline of piece of parchment. Drape ivory fondant pieces over top of cake in box.

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14 fold fondant “fabric”

Arrange the pieces of ivory fondant into soft folds so that they look like crumpled cloth.

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15 add pearl dust

Using a fluffy paintbrush, dust the ivory fondant with a light coating of super pearl luster dust so that it resembles satin.

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16 cut out bow strips

Using the bow templates, cut out the strip shapes and center disc detail from baking parchment. Roll out white fondant. Following outline of parchment pieces, cut out bow pieces from rolled-out fondant. Reserve trimmings.

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17 arrange and position bow

Using photograph as a guide, arrange the white fondant strips into a box shape, pinching together at center. Attach bow to hardened box lid with dabs of water. Fix disc detail in center of bow with another dab of water.

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18 paint the bow

Mix gold luster dust with a few drop of vodka or lemon extract to make a thick paint. Using a small paintbrush, carefully paint the bow gold.

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19 allow to dry

Set the box lid with painted bow aside in a cool place for several hours until completely dry.

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20 make gift tag

Roll out and cut a small square from leftover white fondant trimmings. Inscribe your message on fondant square using the red edible marker. Curl up corners of note and leave to dry and harden.

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21 shape the ear

Roll out the modeling chocolate and cut out a rough ear shape from it using the template. Use ball tool to add fold and crease detailing to ear.

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22 color the ear

Lightly airbrush or dust fleshtone coloring over the entire surface of the ear. Set aside to dry.

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23 place ear in box

Place finished ear on top of folded “fabric” inside the cake box. Arrange the prepared gift tag at the side of the box and fix in place with dab of icing.

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24 add blood and cover

Make small piping bag from baking parchment and fill with red piping gel. Cut tip of bag with scissors. Squeeze red gel “blood” onto side of ear in box. Place lid partly over the box, as shown in photograph.

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