Hello all,

My co-worker asked me to do a Goth themed cake for her teenage son's birthday. I have until the middle of April, but would like some ideas as I know NOT-TING about Goth.

Any Ideas????



PS, I am rather new at cake decorating and am just finishing up the last of my Wilton Classes in the end of March.

Under the galleries tab, there is an area for gothic cakes...looked under "Theme Cakes"...something there might spark your imagination. The first thing that came to my mind was a "gargoyle"..those things are so ugly that they are cute! I think you easily mold one out of fondant or even try a buttercream transfer...there are directions in the article section of this website. Hope this helps!!

Black is very popular color in goth, as well as chains, spiders, spider webs, and skulls. Does her son have a t-shirt that is goth themed that has an image on it? You could try to do a buttercream transfer of the image.
If you have a Hot Topic store in your local mall, you can get some good ideas by going into that store. Even though some of the help may look a little scary in the way they dress- they are very helpful if you explain why you are in there.
**To get the best black though use Chefmaster or Americolor, you will use less coloring and get a better tasting icing.

Goth will be something heard since a lot has to do with darkness, death and evil... Here is a link to a picture that you could maybe do as a transfer. It isnt too bad

http://search.msn.com/images/details.aspx?q=goth+&color=both&size=1p&ht=292&wd=454&tht=82&twd=128&su=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scienceyear.com%2foutthere%2fplanet_goth%2findex.html&iu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.scienceyear.com%2foutthere%2fplanet_goth%2fimages%2fgoth_heading.gif&tu=http%3a%2f%2fimages.picsearch.com%2fis%3f782711072629&sz=27

I would do a vampire coffin with black roses. It would be cool if you made the coffin door out of cardboard so the coffin could be propped open. Here's a pic of the coffin:

http://www.spookshop.com/images/cemetery/coffins.jpg

If it was for a girl you could do a Bratz doll cake in black and red.

To me, Goth runs the gamut from Marilyn Manson to Avril Lavigne. The decorations can be very scary to punk-like. You might want to make a studded belt and wrist band, one of chose chain wallets, spiked dog collar or skull and dagger accessories. As mentioned previously Hot Topic is the best inspiration for this genre. (Can you tell I have a teenager? As a matter of fact, for Halloween I dressed up as as my punk-goth daughter and bought my accessories at Hot Topic- )

I did a coffin cake (see pic under Birthday Cakes). You could modify that. If you like it, PM me and I'll tell you how I did it.

After reading all of this. It reminds me of Beetlejuice and Nightmare before Christmas. Something like black and white stripes on the egdes of the cake and some little skulls and bones with chains and spikes..Hopes this helps..

As an ex-80s Goth from the NY scene, I would make sure that the mom who requested this cake check with her teenage son to see if he wants a Goth cake. I would have considered such a thing very uncool and probably sulked about it for a week if my mother gave me a Goth cake! The whole idea of Goth is it's a lifestyle and a philosophy, not a Halloween or costume thing. To make a Goth-themed cake would have been demeaning to me (when I was a Goth, that is).

My wife recommended an all black cake with red roses on it.