Too Good to Sit On

So I got an order from a lady the other day for a cake shaped like a white tiger. She said it was for her daughter, and I assumed she  was small, so I started pitching the idea of a lovable cartoony version of the animal. She seemed a little uneasy when I suggested it, so I backtracked and asked how old the birthday girl would be. She said 28. OH, well...I guess we have to go realistic then. Yes, she says. Her daughter is obsessed with white tigers and has an entire room in her house devoted to them. OH...shit.

I accept the challenge, hang up the phone, and proceed to freak the hell out because I have NO IDEA how I'm going to pull off a realistic white tiger for a person who stares at the animals likeness on an extremely regular basis. hmm... oh, and also she wants it done with red velvet cake so that when you hack into the animal, it looks bloody. So, hurray for that. :-D

I was going to make it out of the 3D bear mold pan that I have, make it standing. But the more I got to looking at my 3D animal pans, it seemed like the little lamb pan might be a better fit, after all...most four legged creatures bodies look similar while in the laying down position...I guess. So, I mixed up my batter, set the pan in the oven, and an hour later I pull it out and find out the damn thing didn't rise. WTF? I've made literally 60+ cakes at this point, and not a one, didn't rise. Batch two proved to be a better go, and filled out the pan to the needed shape. I talked with my mom, and decided it may be best to make the head separately from the body, so I could work on added detail with more range of mobility. I fashioned the head mold out of rice crisp treat, and began covering it with fondant. I had printed SEVERAL pictures of white tigers at different angles and just heads and so forth, and used those as a guide for the molding and shaping of the head. I trimmed some excess and height from the lamb body, beheaded the poor little thing, and draped the carcass in fondant as well. Slap on some fondant feet and a tale, attach the head via a pike, er, kabob skewer, and there you have it....

I also sat and painted on all the stripes. As well as indenting here and there on the body itself for contouring and effect.  Here's an alternate view, where you can see the face better.

It's probably the best thing I've done in my meager career so far...don't ask how it came out of my hands, because I don't know. I don't even know if I could do it again...I told Matt that I'm scared now, that I may have just peaked...and it's downhill from here...let's hope not!