Since Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, we are celebrating summer with a barbeque (woohoo).  Are you ready for some grilling? By grilling, I mean a grill cake of course.  In this tutorial, I will show you how to make the cake with all the trimmings for a fun barbeque.  Full disclosure, I did get carried away with all the trimmings so bear with me.   The trimmings (all edible) will leave you salivating for the real thing, they include fondant hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken leg, kabab, and corn on the cob.  Since fathers don’t seem to get much love, this cake is perfect for Father’s Day as well (you’re welcome).

Ever since I moved into my new house, I have been grilling outdoors a lot more now.  I love the smokiness that you get from the outdoor grill.  But, I am petrified of propane. Many years ago, I lost some eyelashes lighting the grill.  So, I never light the grill.  No need to worry about that, I promise my barbeque grill cake is safe.  Even better, it uses fondant coal.  I do guarantee that it is delicious. 

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So…How do you make a Barbeque Grill Cake?

To make this grill cake here are some things that you are going to need:

• A round Cake covered in fondant (To learn how to cover a cake in fondant see post here)
• Brown fondant (to make your regular marshmallow fondant or brown/chocolate marshmallow fondant)
• Black fondant
• Red fondant
• Light green fondant
• Orange fondant
• Yellow fondant
• Spaghetti (Perciatelli no.6)
• Black edible art paint
• Brown edible art paint or color gel (Americolor warm brown)
• Silver edible luster dust
• Small rolling pin
• Circle cutter
• Square cutter

How to make the fondant corn

What’s a barbeque without corn on the cob?  To make the fondant corn knead a small piece of yellow fondant and shape it into a small log.  Use a piece of string and make indentation across the fondant to make kernels.  Then make an indentation in the opposite direction. Make a second pass to deepen the lines.  Use black edible color and paint random areas of the corn kernel.

To make the husk, roll out some light green fondant and attach it to the corn on the side (this is optional).

How to make the fondant hamburger

To make a fondant hamburger we start with the hamburger patty.  Roll out a piece of yellow/brown fondant, then use a circle cutter to shape the hamburger or shape with your hand.  Add texture to the patty with a piece of crumpled foil paper.  If you used yellow fondant like I did color the fondant with brown color gel diluted with vodka.  Use a skewer or Dresden tool to create vertical lines.  Paint the vertical lines with black edible paint.

After I made my first hamburger patty I found a hamburger former that I bought a year ago from a fundraiser.  I used this to create the second hamburger patty which was so much easier.

Can you see the difference between the two?

Fondant Lettuce

To make the lettuce, roll out a small amount of green fondant really thin and cut it with a circle cutter.  The lettuce does not need to be perfect. Frill the edges of the fondant to create the effect of real lettuce. Place it on the side until all the pieces for the hamburger are complete.

The next thing to create is the hamburger bun.

To create the hamburger bun mix some light brown fondant and white fondant.  Once the colors are combined knead it into the shape of a bun.  Make two buns, one for the bottom and one for the top.   Flatten the bottom bun and make it smaller than the size of the hamburger patty.

However, make the top bun a bit thicker and keep the edges round.  Then add some shortening and sprinkle some sesame seeds. Move the sesame seeds around so it is touching different areas of the bun and looks random.  Similar to the bun from McDonald’s.

Now it is time to make the fondant tomato

The fondant tomato is very easy to make.  You are going to need two sizes of circle cutters (medium and small).  Roll out a piece of red fondant, then cut it with the larger of the two circle cutter.  Then use the second size cutter and make an indentation in the fondant. Make some lines in small triangles.  While not shown here, add some sesame seeds to make the seeds of the tomato.

Fondant Cheese

The cheese is the easiest to make. Take a piece of yellow fondant and cut it into a square.  Then pull out the corners.  Don’t go too crazy because you are going to pull it out some more once it is on the hamburger patty.

Putting it all together (Hamburger)

This part is all about how you eat your hamburger.  Place the hamburger patty on the bottom bun.  Then add the cheese, lettuce, tomato, and then the top bun. The only thing that is missing is the condiment.

Look how yummy that hamburger looks. Are salivating like I am? Ok, let’s keep going.

How to make the fondant hot dog

To make the fondant hot dog, roll red fondant into a sausage.  Then make a little curve.  Paint vertically with black edible paint.  I made smaller hot dogs but you can make them longer.

Fondant Kabab

The fondant kabab includes green, yellow, and red fondant.  Poke holes in the center of the fondant with the spaghetti (the same one used for the grill see below).  Then color the yellow fondant brown.  Add them in whatever order you like. 

At the last minute, I felt like the grill needed something else so I added a chicken leg.  Make the chicken leg by rolling a piece of yellow or brown fondant into a log making the top narrow and the bottom larger.  Then add some grill lines. Paint with brown color gel (don’t go as heavy as I did with the color) and add black to make it look charred.

Adding the grill and the fondant coals to the cake

To make coals for the grill, cut small pieces of black fondant into small squares.  Then color them with silver luster dust.  Add more silver to make it look like the coal is burning.  I ran out of silver, but they looked fine this way. Also, adjust the height of the coals to allow the grill to fit.

For the grill use a thick pasta such as Perciatelli no.6

Color the pasta with a mixture of black edible paint and silver luster dust to get a charcoal color, then measure and cut to size.

Add them to the top of the cake by securing them around the corners and let them sit on the coals for support.

Add small strings of red fondant in the middle of the coals to make it look like the fire (you can also paint the coals in the middle red).

Then add all the trimming to the cake.  Organize in whatever direction you like.

For the final cake, I added some flames to the side of the cake.  Added the burger and small grill spatula.

Whew… I am hungry…

If you loved this cake, don’t forget to share it.  As always happy caking.