made from cake, chocolate, sugar paste, wafer paper and isomalt.
Inspired By .
Southern Louisiana life on Grand Bayou in lower Plaquemines Parish, spooky stories told to me by my uncle and one of my favorite Slavic folklore stories (baba yaga).
As crazy as it might seem, I initially got the idea for this cake by watching John Wick. In the beginning of the movie, they referred to him as "Baba Yaga" and I was like BINGO! I'll make a Baba Yaga Cake for TTTC. Baba Yaga is originally from Slavic Folklore, and you can easily find several reference photos online. They all kind of favor each other in design, so I wanted to create something completely different and unexpected and that's when my idea started to grow. Being from Grand Bayou, in very Southern Louisiana, I wanted all of my entry pieces for my first competition to represent that lifestyle. My House Cake is a combination of life on the Bayou and spooky stories from my uncle where a witch lived in the woods in a small home and used a lantern on the front porch and the sweet smell from her pot to lure people in. Lots of reference photos that I used for the design, I photographed myself while visiting my mom on Grand Bayou. The edible decor pieces like the nutria boards, wash tubs, wood burning stove, water cistern, etc. are all from stories I've heard my mom tell me of life on the bayou when she was younger. Everything just went together perfectly for the overall design.
Gnarly chicken feet carefully sculpted from chocolate with hollowed out nails to mimic real ones. The right side of the house features sugar paste logs, old rusted cans, vintage green bottle with cork, nutria washboards and wash tubs. The hanging moss is made from tiny hand cut strips of wafer paper.
The front of the house features a lantern made from sugar paste and isomalt with a miniature LED light inside. The distressed rocking chair also made from sugar rocks back and forth. The alligator skull is sculpted from chocolate. The windows are hallowed out some with broken isomalt windows and town wafer paper curtains. An old, rusted dinner bell sits on the post and can also move freely. A special feature of the design is the fact that the door remains propped open, and you can peak inside the witch's home!
Ever wondered what the inside of a witch's house might look like? I did! and that is why I had to add on to the design by featuring this view. The inside of the home was made by cutting out a section of cake and paneling it with ganache and a sugar medium. The decor is made from sugar, isomalt, and wafer paper. The wood burning stove is one of my favorite features, it vents out the top of the roof and inside of it you'll find fire isomalt and wafer paper ash. On the shelf are the witch's potions and books that have a sugar cover with wafer paper pages. Split logs, a tiny ax, cast iron pan, rope, dusty bookshelves, rope and a domed isomalt light fixture complete the look.
The house sits on top a 24" fully decorated themed board. The land on both sides are both cake, along with the outhouse and broken water cistern. The walkway is fully edible, made from sugar, with no internal supports. The isomalt water also has details like small fish swimming along the dock, a footprint from the chicken foot left behind in the mud, and small crab mud stacked homes on the mud sloped land. All of the vegetation is made from wafer paper. The trees are sculpted from chocolate. Additional Features Include: Crossbeams under the house, textured underside of the walkway, bolts and nails on the "get out sign", beams inside of the home, and smokestack. Moon shaped outhouse symbol on the front door, and contoured back legs of the chicken to mimic muscle. Green algae growth on the bottom parts of the wood.