Sugared Productions Blog

Twas the Week Before Christmas

by 20 Comments

When, what to my wondering eye should appear
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.
OK, so the reindeer went off to graze …..

Here is the big project I have been working on for weeks. I made this for my sister’s office party. She challenges me to raise the bar every year. I try to resist, but she gets me every time.
When she saw the Santa cake I made in Bronwen’s class, she asked for that for the party. Knowing that was not enough servings for 50 people, I had to think of a coordinating way to add servings.
Late at night in bed it came to me. I knew it would be very labor intensive and stressful, but I knew I just had to try. I would have never been able to live with myself if I did not.

I thought and thought and thought some more about how to go about doing this. I used dried fondant panels for the sleigh and cake made up the seat.
The loot bag was made from piled up cake scraps. Wendy made the packages for me from styro, and I threw in a few of my goodie basket candy cane cookies too.

I searched the Internet for sleigh images and clip art, and decided to use this as my template and model: Sleigh

 

 

 

I made my own template on card stock using this image as a guide. I cut 2 of each piece. I wanted to have extras in case of breakage. I cut them out about 10 days before I assembled the sleigh. I flipped them over every few days to enhance them drying.

 

 

After about one week, I put the scroll work on using layers of clay gun strings. (My arms and chest are still sore.) Then I painted it with gold highlighter mixed with vodka. ( Yeah, that took a while too, LOL)

 

 

My wonderful Wendy came over to help me assemble the sleigh. I was very nervous about breakage. I had invested way too much time and effort by this point to lose it all. And it certainly took 4 hands and 2 brains to get it together. We carved the cake and placed it on the bottom piece, then attached the back piece. (Melted chocolate was our glue for everything.)

 

 

Here it is just put together. I decided to double the side panels for strength, which was a very good idea. They may not have made it had I left them single. You can see the hole in the board in front of the sleigh where Santa’s stand will go down into. ( Thanks to Wendy’s dad for cutting the board for me.)
Wendy came with me to deliver it and assemble it. When we got there, we dropped Santa down into the hole, applied the buttercream snow and added the doo dads.

Here is my template. You can adjust the size of this, keeping the ratio proportion the same, to make any size you want. You could make cute little gumpaste or gingerbread sleighs too.

Side panels.
Back panel
Bottom panel (excuse the typo)
Front panel
Everyone at the party was just amazed and awed. It was a lot of work, and worrisome, but I am glad I rose to the challenge. I am also very glad it is over! LOL

Next on tap is assembling the goodie baskets I have been working on. I will post those pics over the weekend. Have to get my house clean for company tomorrow night. I could use a cocktail!

Happy Holiday Caking,
Sharon

 

Comments

  1. Mata Family says

    It’s totally amazing and perfect! Glad you listened to the voices instead of me trying to talk you out of it 🙂 Great job friend!!

    Reply

  2. Janell says

    That’s incredible! Thanks so much for describing how you made it. I’d love to try it someday. I’m totally impressed, as I always am with your cakes. 🙂

    Reply

  3. Heather says

    You are simply awesome woman!! My kids are in awe, btw, and want one for their birthdays, so I’ll be working day and night to umm…make enough money to pay for one b/c I couldn’t do it!!
    I’m so glad you did it, b/c I knew you could!

    Reply

  4. Snooky doodle says

    wow this is amazing I thought the sleigh was made of plastic or something just for decoration. But it s made of cake too! its amazing. Well done !!

    Reply

  6. Jacque Benson says

    You have outdone yourself Sharon!
    The Santa and Sleigh are just amazing and quite beautiful!!
    Thank you for sharing the process!
    Merry Christmas,
    Jacque Benson

    Reply

  8. Gayla says

    Sharon,

    Your santa and sleigh are just too precious, what a wonderful job!!! No surprise that it was a hit at the party.

    Merry Christmas.

    Gayla

    Reply

  11. Anne says

    Wow! What an amazing job. You are wonderful and Wendy is fabulous for helping you. Kudos to you both. What measurements did you use on your sleigh. It looks absolutely perfect!

    Reply

  13. SugarEd Productions says

    Thank you all!

    The sleigh was 27 inches long, 12 inches wide and I do not know how tall, LOL.

    Merry Christmas!

    Reply

  14. SharonG says

    PERFECT! Incredible cake, work and amazing job! For sure a cake and design, that is worthy of a Food Network Cake Challenge Win! I can see it now, with Heather as yourside kick.

    Well worth the way to see what design you came up with and the photo of the cake. Thank You, for sharing the photos and all the information on this. You ROCK lady!

    Reply

  18. Sherry-New Orleans Lady says

    Rose to the challenge and then some…LOVE the blog and I always love pics of the progress. Congrats to you and Wen…it's fantastic!

    Reply

  19. Peggy Thomas says

    Awesome job! I was looking at the template pictures and 3 of the panels photos aren't showing anything. Should there be a picture of the back panels, etc?

    Reply

  20. Anonymous says

    Hi Peggy. This is Sharon. I van see the templates just fine. They are just white boxes with the words typed inside of them. HTH. Sharon

    Reply

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