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.
• 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
• 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
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.
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.
Using water, applied with a stiff paintbrush, fix the fondant side strips in place around the fondant lid top.
Leave the assembled box lid in a cool place for at least 24 hours to dry out completely and firm up.
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.
Following the outline of the parchment template, carefully cut out the cake heart with the serrated knife.
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.
Pipe more buttercream icing all over the top and sides of cake. Smooth over the entire surface of icing with a small spatula.
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.
Carefully press the red fondant side strips onto the sides of the iced cake. Trim as necessary.
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.
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.
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.
Arrange the pieces of ivory fondant into soft folds so that they look like crumpled cloth.
Using a fluffy paintbrush, dust the ivory fondant with a light coating of super pearl luster dust so that it resembles satin.
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.
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.
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.
Set the box lid with painted bow aside in a cool place for several hours until completely dry.
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.
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.
Lightly airbrush or dust fleshtone coloring over the entire surface of the ear. Set aside to dry.
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.
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.