24 Carrot Camel
So my friend Adam was having his 40th birthday and I offered to make him a special cake. Little did he know what he was in for and little did I remember why I always open my big mouth!!! After he informed me it was Moroccan themed I immediately thought camel. Oh no I couldn’t just stop at a cute Moroccan stacked cake or a Moroccan lantern or a Moroccan pillow. I had to do a standing fucking camel!! Pardon my Moroccan.
So the journey across the desert dessert began.
Adam wanted a carrot cake and since it’s one of my faves I quickly agreed. Instead of cream cheese frosting though I went with browned butter frosting. It’s one of my favorite frostings and it couples well with carrot.
I made the trek across the Los Angeles desert in my hummer to Home Depot. I scoured the aisles to figure out how I’d build the supporting structure and decided upon the plumbing aisle. I spotted that orange apron in all it’s glory and asked the knowledgeable employee what his opinion was. After his look of disgust he suggested floor flanges and I said “funny that’s my knickname”. He wasn’t amused attall. Soon everyone was in on the planning. Pedro the plumber showed me how to connect the pipes and that’s a sentence I never pictured writing. So off and running I was. I got my lumber, check, floor flanges, check, 1/2 inch pvc, check, screws, check. This sounds like a bad porno.
For all my cake supplies in Los Angeles I go to http://gloriascakecandysuplys.com/store/
My design
I cut a stencil around my cake pans and used a jigsaw to cut it out. I screwed my flanges in with my pipe couplers.
Next I eyeballed the pvc size and cut them down with a hack saw.
I glued the pipes in and then connected the neck and head piece.
This is where I would’ve changed the inside structure. I used rice krispie treats to form the head and neck as well as
parts of the body. I wish I would’ve used modeling chocolate because the treats weren’t strong enough to support the icing and fondant. I ended up making it work but I had to remove the head once and wrap it in foil. Actually if you’re not a purest the foil would’ve been fine for the inside structure and then modeling chocolate over that. Alas we live and learn.
I used modeling chocolate for the legs and inserted the 4 layer carrot cake/hump in the center. I used the giant cupcake mold for the hump and cut it down.
I covered the entire camel in browned butter frosting. It looks messy but fondant was layered on top so it didn’t matter much. The bumpyness created a texture for the camel fur.
Here she is in all her glory! I decorated her with a fondant rug that I outlined in multicolor sugar. I used strung colored rock candy to bedazzle her and the pillow is marshmallow fondant with more rock candy on top. I cheated a bit with the non eatables and used beaded ribbon around her neck. Every girl needs some real jewelry right??
The cake board/plywood is outlined with black & gold rick rack and the sand is brown sugar dusted with eatable gold leaf sugar.
The pics aren’t great because they’re from my phone. If I get more pics I will post here.
Below is the recipe & intructions for the Carrot cake. It turned out YUMMY . Also below is a recipe for my browned butter frosting and marshmallow fondant! Enjoy!
Cake feeds 32 people in four large layers.
- 12 cups grated carrots
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 cups raisins
- 8 eggs
- 3 cups white sugar
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups crushed pineapple, drained
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2-3/4 cups and 3 tablespoons chopped walnuts
Directions
- In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 10 inch cake pans.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs until light. Gradually beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting.