Dr. Who Cake Mini Tutorial - a Few Tips and Tricks!

NOTE: Sara’s blog has moved to a new location: http://saraelizabethcakes.com. Feel free to browse around my tutorials here, then come check out my new site!

Dr. Who fans have got to be some of the most loyal fans in the world! I'm ashamed to admit that I've never seen Dr. Who myself, but all I know is that this cake has been one of my most popular! Created for a Sweet 16 birthday, my customer knew the cake had to have 3 key things to really impress her daughter: the Tardis, Dalek, and a Weeping Angel. None of these meant anything to me at the time, but after a few sessions with Google, Wikipedia, and YouTube, I was ready to go!

The first step was to figure out how to create a Tardis. If you're looking to do the same, I HIGHLY recommend that you go check out Elizabeth Marek's Tardis Cake Tutorial. Everything you could ever need to know about creating a Tardis cake is right there. And it's perfect. After going through her tutorial, I was moderately confident that I could create something similar, but using Rice Krispie Treats as my base structure for the Tardis. Thank you, Elizabeth!!!

Dalek: totally cool. I got that one. 

However, once I figured out what Weeping Angels were (check out this creepy video), I was a little less confident. Thankfully, it all worked out. 

I didn't take any photos while the work was underway, so this will just be a simple overview of what I did.

The cake itself was a 6" two layer cake on a 10" cake board. Hindsight, I should have gone with a 12" cake board. The fondant was black, marbled with a small amount ofblue and purple fondant. To do this, simply lightly knead the 3 colors together just till they begin to mix, then stop (before the colors blend together) and roll out your fondant, giving you a nice, subtle marble appearance.

For the Tardis, make your shape from Rice Krispie Treats (RKT) and allow to harden in the fridge. Make a hole a few inches deep in the bottom of the Tardis--using a wooden dowel--so that when you're ready to mount it on a cake, you can put the dowel in the cake (trimmed to the right height), and simply stick the Tardis on it to hold it in place. Remember that you're adding about a 1/4" of fondant on all sides, and plan accordingly with a slightly smaller RKT base. Following Elizabeth's Tutorial, I used fondant to cover my Tardis in the same manner as she did, including using a second fondant layer and then cutting out windows to create the "trim work" on the Tardis. Gumpaste was used for the handle, lock, sign, and and "notice." I used an edible marker for the writing. No working lights on hand, so my lantern on the top was also gumpaste.

For Dalek and the Weeping Angel, I also used an RKT base for the shapes.

Dalek was then covered in black and red fondant, given a red hat, and finished with gold details, etc. I used my Clay Extruder to make the fine pieces for Dalek's . . .  um . . . face protector part of his helmet?

As mentioned before, the Weeping Angel was the most intimidating. I shaped the torso and skirt first out of RKT, and set it in the fridge to harden. Again, remember that it will gain some width from the modeling clay! I should have made mine narrower. It ended up a bit short and stout. But hey, I'm sure not all angels are tall and slim, right? They're angels, not supermodels. ;)

For the face, arms, and wings, I used Gumpaste. I wanted to be sure the wings would harden quickly. First, I cut out the shape with an Exacto knife, making sure my piece of gumpaste was thicker at the top and thinner towards the bottom, smoothing the curves and adding grooves for the feathers using my pointed Wilton modeling tool. I inserted a toothpick into each wing, where it would attach to the back (up in the thick part of the top of the wing). 

I then modeled the head, using a separate piece of gumpaste for the hair, attaching it to the head with Wilton's Piping Gel, and then creating more grooves and definition. A toothpick went into the neck. 

Arms were created the same way, but later so as to not dry so hard that I couldn't bend them into place.

Taking my RKT figure out of the fridge, I attached the wings, and head. I then covered the RKT body in a really poor batch of modeling candy clay. Candy Clay is easy to make--go here to Wilton's blog for a recipe! I over-mixed mine, so it wasn't as smooth as it should've been. Luckily, in the end, I thought it enhanced the stone-look I was going for. I added the grooves in the dress with my pointed tool. Make sure that the modeling clay covers all toothpick connections. Lastly, I created and attached the arms to the shoulders using toothpicks again, glueing the hands to the face with Piping Gel. I had to hold them there for a bit while the gumpaste set up.

Once the figure was dry, I painted it with a tiny bit of black paint mixed with a bit of clear vanilla extract to give it a grey finish. It pooled in all of the grooves, giving the figure a nice stone/marble appearance. 

Once all your figures are made, let out a HUGE sigh of relief, attach them to the cake and cake board, and make one loyal Dr. Who fan incredibly happy! (Make sure you have a few dowels/fat boba straws in place in your cake to support the weight of your Tardis. Position them right around where the dowel is, making sure they will be under the Tardis so that they won't be visible).

Finally, go catch up on your sleep. You've earned it. ;)

Happy Caking!!!