Buttercream Computer-Themed Cake Ideas, Please???

Decorating By JGMB Updated 8 Mar 2013 , 5:09pm by hbquikcomjamesl

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JGMB Posted 5 Feb 2013 , 1:00pm
post #1 of 12

A local charity that provides refurbished computers to low-income families is about to celebrate giving away their 10,000th free computer!!  Anyway, they're having a celebration and asked me to donate a cake.  I'm thrilled to do it, but I only work in BC.  Every computer cake I've seen on the internet is fondant.  

 

They haven't yet told me how many servings they need, so I'm just trying to get some ideas right now.

 

Thanks for any advice!!

11 replies
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Crazy-Gray Posted 5 Feb 2013 , 2:34pm
post #2 of 12

How are you with frozen transfers? You could google images for 'computer cartoons' and add the charity's logo too? something like;

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JGMB Posted 5 Feb 2013 , 2:41pm
post #3 of 12

Oh, I loooove that, Crazy-Gray!  I'm not real creative, so all I could come up with was trying to carve and decorate an actual computer.  Your idea is right up my alley -- I could put it on a sheetcake so it would be much easier to serve.  Thanks so much, and I'll send you a photo when I make it in March!

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Crazy-Gray Posted 6 Feb 2013 , 12:21pm
post #4 of 12

You're very welcome :) it's nice to be able to help!

 

Can't wait to see your cake now! :)

 

Have fun,

 

Gray

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hbquikcomjamesl Posted 6 Feb 2013 , 3:32pm
post #5 of 12

As some of you are no doubt already aware, I'm a programmer by trade. Almost half a lifetime ago, when I was still at my first real job that was neither part-time, nor temporary-by-law, I celebrated the release of a program I was involved in by making 3 of those microwave cakes that Pillsbury offered at the time (mix and plastic pan, all in the same box). I decorated one with the program's icon, and the other two with the program's initial screen.

 

Regarding the suggestion from "Crazy-Gray," I can only add that you should pay close attention to the copyright and license status of any image you download (Wikimedia Commons and Flickr are your friends!). I'm not quite sure what's meant here by "frozen transfer," but I'd consider edible printing as being especially appropriate for this particular application, since a computer is used to produce the decorative element itself. Look me up on Flickr (look for "Tracker-Backer"), and find my Leland Award cake: it was my first use of edible printing, and it combined a photograph of the trophy with the International Printing Museum's logo.

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Sonya Posted 6 Feb 2013 , 4:30pm
post #6 of 12

Here is a laptop cake I made for my brothers birthday one year. The cake is buttercream icing but the "keys" are cut out of fondant. The screen was just a piece of styrofoam I wrapped in tin foil and printed out a copy of my background on my computer and glued it on. I also put some dowel rods in the bottom of the screen so I could stick them down into the bottom of the sheet cake to hold it up. It was a fun cake to make and I think the hardest thing about it was cutting out all the little squares for the keys on the keyboard. There is square cutters you can purchase for cheap that will make cutting them out a lot easier. Hope this info helps and if you have any questions please feel free to message me ;)

 

This is my first laptop cake. Bottom layer is a 12x18 and the laptop is a 9x13.  The keyboard keys are made from black fondant that I cut out with square cutters. The screen is a piece of styrofoam size 9x13, I wrapped it with foil, glued a piece of black construction paper on the front, and did a screenshot of my computer desktop printed it out and glued it on top of the construction paper. The screen is held in place by 4 dowel rods stuck halfway in the bottom of the screen and halfway in the bottom cake.

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JGMB Posted 6 Mar 2013 , 11:15pm
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Well, I did it!!  Thanks to Crazy-Gray, I had a cute piece of clip art to work from.  I just piped it right onto the cake with buttercream and, if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty cute!  Here's a link to the photo:  http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2941388/a/3314031/made-for-the-peoples-resource-centers-celebration-of-giving-away-their-10-000th-refurbished-computer-to-a-low-income-family-scratch-yellow-cake-with-buttercream/

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Crazy-Gray Posted 7 Mar 2013 , 8:21am
post #8 of 12

You did that freehand?! That's amazing! It turned out just lovely - well done! I'm sure they all loved it icon_biggrin.gif

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Ducky316 Posted 7 Mar 2013 , 8:41pm
post #9 of 12

FABULOUS JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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hbquikcomjamesl Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 1:28am
post #10 of 12

I could not even begin to do that with a piping bag.

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JGMB Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 1:59am
post #11 of 12

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone!  And, hbquikcomjamesl, I never thought I could either, as I can't draw anything with a pencil.  But, it's really not as hard as it seems -- I just kind of pick apart the clipart in my mind, deciding what has to go on first, then what goes on top of that, etc.  As I go, I flatten out the frosting using the Viva method.  Give it a try!

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hbquikcomjamesl Posted 8 Mar 2013 , 5:09pm
post #12 of 12

Well, I did pipe that rose outline on the Mother's Day cake I baked last year. And I did hand-pipe the lettering on the Leland Awards cake.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64159238@N03/sets/72157627517153286/

 

But based on those experiences, I don't think I could begin to do what you did.

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