Sewing machine cake

by mary sasta
(Almont, Mi USA)

I always draw out my plans before I construct them, I do a lot of measuring, thinking and draw out my own patterns.

The bottom base of this cake is made out of styrofoam for stability.

I then baked a sheet cake,cut and laid it on the base with butter cream in between layers, plus dowel rods to support each tier.

I then carved it into the shape that I wanted. After carving it I put a thin layer of butter cream on it, I then rolled out white fondant and covered the whole cake.

The embellishments are all made out of fondant which I had made well ahead of time, except for the Happy Birthday banner, I put that on last.

I made this cake for my mother's 84th birthday last year, she has sewn all her life, so I thought I would make her a sewing machine cake, she still can't believe it.

There is really nothing I would do differently if I had to do it again. I plan things out to a T.

My advice in making this cake would be to give yourself plenty of time to get your thoughts together and how to construct it. I had 6 months to plan this cake out. If there is an occasion coming up in your family, think way ahead of what you think you want to make for a cake.

Step by step directions.
I used my portable sewing machine to measure out height, length and width. I then drew out a pattern to the same size of my portable machine. Then I figured out what embellishments I was going to put with this cake, tape measure, pin cushion, material, etc. I made those, I got a piece of styrofoam cut it the the length and width that I needed.

I covered the foam in press and seal[so no foam ever touches the cake} plus i put a cake board on top of the styrofoam base. I baked the sheet cake., cut it about the same width as the base but a little wider to be sure I had enough to work with, stacked the cake with butter cream in between layers and dowel rods for support.

I set my pattern up against the cake for the shape of it and just carved away until i got the shape I wanted. I covered it in butter cream, and then put the fondant on, then all the embellishments.