Catch of the Day!

Anybody up for some fresh Mahi Mahi? How 'bout some that tastes like chocolate cake filled with honey-soaked bananas and peanut butter icing?! Now, that's what I'm talking about!

Monica found this photo of a Mahi, and asked me to recreate it for Steve's surprise 30th birthday party this weekend:

(Photo taken from www.chrisdixonstudios.com)

Here are Steve and Monica with the beast. Yes, I said beast. The fish measured almost 3 feet long, from head to tail!

Here's the big guy joining in on the fun. Notice the party horn in his mouth...not sure why it's backwards though...

Steve cut and served everything but the head - they took that home in a to-go box. Kinda creepy, huh? Actually, after Adam and I got the fish loaded in the car, I looked back to check on it. He was just lying there looking at me with that big black eye and gaping mouth...creeped me out for a second!

So how did I make this cake?

I started by sketching the fish in the full size I wanted the cake to be. Then, I cut out the shape of the body and placed it over the cake. I carved the cake using the body sketch as a template. Then, I rounded the edges a bit, crumb coated it with buttercream, and covered it with white fondant.

To create the light blue spots, I placed paper holes (from a regular paper punch) on the fish and soaked them with a little clear alcohol. The alcohol held the paper circles in place while I airbrushed the body. To avoid airbrusing the entire cake board too, I covered the board in wax paper so only the fish body was exposed. After I aibrushed the body, I removed the paper circles and painted the underlying white spots with light blue food coloring.

Next, I cut the fins out of gum paste. Again, I used my original sketch as the template for all of the fins. The fins were then airbrushed, allowed to dry, and attached to the cake.

I didn't want the fins to just lie there lifeless so I supported them with uncooked spaghetti noodles. If you put enough noodles, they'll easily hold up the weight of the gum paste.

For finishing touches, I added royal icing teeth and a fondant eye. Simple as that!