I met Renata Papadopoulos of Lovely Cakes at the BRIDES pop up shop a few months ago. I just adored the cake she had on display, and I had so much fun talking to her.
She was nice enough to send these behind-the-scenes photos of this perfectly-executed Olivia cake, along with some great tips. I love the illustrated look of this cake!
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If you think of this sculpted cake in terms of tiers, this is a sculpted three tier cake. The top tier is made of a mix of cake and buttercream (like a cake ball). For support, the bottom and second tier are doweled, and there is a central dowel which runs the length of the entire cake.
Renata used a photo and an Olivia figurine as references for carving. The entire cake was iced in buttercream, and then covered it fondant. “I added some buttercream under [the custom support of] the snout so it wouldn’t be flat.”
In covering the cake with fondant, Renata first covered the skin, followed by the dress. Then, she added the ears and arms.
“The ears are fondant with tylose”. After she modeled the ears, she dried them in the oven, with just the oven light on.
The ears were then inserted with thin dowels. You can do the same for the arms.
If you have good paintbrush skills, you can paint on the face like Renata did: “I drew the face with a brush and food color mixed with vodka. I dusted inside the ears and the nose with light pink.” Another option is to use edible marker for the face.
Lovely Cakes is an award-winning cake shop, recently featured in Brides Magazine as a winner America’s Most Beautiful Wedding Cakes. Lovely Cakes is located in Norwalk, CT, serving Connecticut and the New York Metro area.
Olivia is the creation of Ian Falconer.
Kasey says
HI there! this cake is totally RAD! my one question is, the top support that holds the face up, is there no central dowel running through them all to keep that from tipping? or was teh weight o fteh back of the head enough?
Cakeb0t says
Hi Kasey! Thanks for the heads up. (edit edit edit) The bottom and middle tier are doweled, and there is one central dowel through the entire cake! <3
Kasey says
awesome sauce! thanks a million! =D
Paula says
I am totally loving Olivia in cake form. Renata is fabulously talented and very generous to show us this tutorial on how she created this cake. Olivia is absolutely adorable!
Elaine S. says
What is the head made of ? How did you connect the haed support to the body?
Elaine S. says
Oops head.
Angela Pascale says
I am curious. I am a fairly new cake designer. I have been doing research on copyright laws concerning licensed characters, due to people asking for them in cake form. What do you tell people when they ask for a licensed character cake? Do you make it and hope you don’t get caught, or do you have permission from those who own the license? How do you go about gaining permission?
Azeus Food Machinery says
Yummy!!! It looks so cute! Using electric deck oven will make it more delicious! Why not have a try?
Manuela Michel says
OMG……….she’s soo suuuper cute. I love her……
Binky…you are amazing :O)
Thank you for the tutorial
Greetings from Germany!