I have friend who is graduating from college in 2 weeks. We call her the "Tin Man" from wizard of oz so we want to do a Tin Man cake with a yellow brick road. I have this grand idea in my head but I don't know how to make it work!!

I want to make a 3D Tin man cake (needs to serve 35-40 people). I was thinking about making him lay down on his tummy and prop his head up on his arms. Then, instead of putting the funnel on his head, put a graduation cap on. <aybe have his legs bent upwards (like he's laying on his stomach in the grass) how do I accomplish all this?? The body I can handle, but I don't know how to make the arms and legs to where they will look proportional and be sturdy enough for transporting.

HELP!!!

THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Valerie

anyone have any ideas? Am I just out of my mind for coming up with such a creation@?@?

Valerie

Idea sounds very cool! I have to admit that I am not one to do sculpted cakes. Heck, I can't even get my BC smooth. Shoot, I'd have to make him out of gumpaste. Hope someone can give ya some help soon!

Elle

What a cute idea!! I would suggest making the head, arms and legs out of styrofoam or Rice Krispie treats. It would be best to secure the arms, legs and head to the base board rather than relying on the cake to support them. You'll just need to creatively cover up the dowels , which shouldn't be a problem.

On this cake, the entire head and neck are made of RK treats. The open mouth is foamboard. There's a dowel through the whole thing that penetrates the base board.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=104153

WOW, that's an amazing dragon cake!!! I don't even want to know how long it took you to cut out all those scales!!!

Thanks for the ideas. My original thought was to do the head with a ball pan cake, but I'm with you in that styrofoam may be a better option due to the weight! I was thinking about using PVC pipe for the arms and legs, but I don't know how in the world I would attach it to the board! Rice krispy treats might be a good option in that case. Thanks for the idea!!

anyone else have any creative ideas of how to pull this off??

thanks!
Valerie

I'm a newbie, so this may not work. Just an idea. Body out of cake, and upper arms and thighs made out of jelly roll cakes, then you only have the forearms and calves/feet out of RK treats. This would mean that you could serve more people and still make the body a little smaller so the cake doesn't end up so huge. (since it would almost have to be, I would imagine, to make the arms and legs proportionate to the body, if that is the only part that is really cake) And the head out of styrofoam.

I don't know, just a thought.

I am with AuntieElle though! I think I would be making a scene with corn stalks and the yellow brick road and him out of MMF! The Emerald city off in the distance or something... (but I guess that does focus more on the movie and not specifically on the tin man. That just fits more in my skill level! )

DianeLM beat me to it.

I second the use RKT over dowels embedded in the main cake (the sheet cake he's lying on and that has the top deco'ed to look like grass)

as for body -- the jelly rolls could work -- as small rounds on edge glued together and doweled horizontally

I forgot to mention for the body, I would line up several round cakes on their sides. Trim a little off so they lay flat. My only hesitation with using a jelly roll cake is, they usually aren't perfectly round. Here's a cake made with 6 or 7 (who can remember?) lined up 6-inch rounds.
http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=90832
Thanks for the corroboration, Doug!