Speak & Spell Cake for My Son's School Carnival

My son’s school was having a 80’s themed carnival  and were asking for parents to donate cakes for a cakewalk. I saw a pic of this speak and spell cake and I remember that I loved my own speak and spell when I was a kid. So here it is.(notice almost all the other cakes are bought from a store ,lol.)



Notice my sons were not too happy to stand there and take a pic when there was all those fun carnival games around.lol



***the speak and spell cake that i copied is the pic of the cake that has writing on the toys' screen. "happy 30th gail"

Step 1: Getting Started

First bake your favorite cake in a 13 x 9 pan. Let cool. After about 20 min. of cooling time you can put it in the freezer, so it will be easier to carve. Meanwhile  draw  a template of the shape of the speak and spell onto a paper or card board I like to use empty cereal boxes. Then cut it out. This is just a guide when it comes down to it, you will eyeball it and make sure it looks nice. Take the cake out of freezer and use a serrated knife to “trace” your cake. Once you have the basic shape you can start making sure that it has straight edges where it needs straight edges and well, you get the idea, just clean it up a bit.  Always remember… you can always take a little cake off but it’s hard to put it back on so just trim a little bit at a time.

When you are happy with the shape, let the cake chill for a while, then take out and cover with icing.

Step 2: Cover Your Cake With Fondant

Next, roll out your fondant and cover it but be a little more generous over where the handle is. Smooth the top and sides as best you can.  Cut a slit in the middle of where the handle is  and smooth it out. Trim the edges of the whole cake. I chose to not color my fondant until now ,but you can color your fondant before you roll it out or even buy the color you need. So now I am, going to airbrush it orangeish red .

Step 3: Time for the Fun Details

 Make templates out of paper to ensure that you get a good shape  and size for all the details.( you wouldn’t want to run out of room for some of the  letters,lol.) Roll your fondant really thin and cut out what you need. You can color those pieces before or hand paint with edible colors or airbrush. Use foodsafe markers to write the letters and words. Attach the pieces to the cake with a tiny bit of water on a foodsafe paintbrush. I painted a thin layer of black airbrush paint to the black screen to give it that shiny plastic look.