Ipso Fatto Instant Photos: Pat's Retirement Cake

I recently agreed to make a cake for a colleague's retirement party, and one of the party organizers asked about the possibility of decorating the cake with a world map marked with locations where the honoree had visited. My artistic skills are rubbish and I don't try to pretend otherwise. So I said that there was no way I could create such a map myself, but suggested that they come up with digital design that I could have printed on an edible image (I have my edible images printed at Little Bitts in Wheaton, MD).

I love the design they produced, especially the vibrant colors. And once I saw it and realized how much white space there would be on top of the cake, I decided to use colored lace for borders and accents. I have made a fair amount of edible lace for cakes, but I had never tried coloring it before. It was surprisingly easy, with both powder and gel colors. I also decided to experiment with two-tone colored lace. I don't know why two-tone (or multi-colored) edible lace isn't more common -- it's not difficult to make.

The finished cake was a half-sheet size comprised of two layers of white butter cake, brushed with sugar syrup, filled and frosted with mousseline (flavored with Mathilde peach liqueur), and covered with rolled fondant. I wasn't thrilled with the way the fondant looked -- I never have a problem getting fondant perfectly smooth when I roll it out, but I generally end up getting some wrinkles and dents during the process of moving the fondant onto the cake. And the imperfections tend to grow with the size of the cake. But once the cake was covered in fondant, all I had to do was attach the edible image and the lace pieces that I had made over the previous week. I used Martellato Sugar Dress confectionery lace mix and several lace mats from Sugarveil. The mats I used all created long strips of lace, but I used scissors to cut out each of the individual round pieces that I attached to the top and sides of the cake.

I received a lot of compliments on this cake, both for the design and for the texture and flavor of the cake itself. And the retirement party was lovely. I feel very fortunate to work at an agency where the camaraderie and sincere affection among colleagues make tears commonplace when we have to say goodbye.

Recipes: "Base Formula for White Butter Cake," "Mousseline Buttercream," and "Classic Rolled Fondant" from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.