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Sun 11 Jan, 2009 06:47 pm
I am making a cake that is supposed to resemble an army tank. I've got a pretty good idea on how to make it but I'm stuck on a few things.
I need a turret or whatever that thing is called that shoots out the rockets and I need something to make the thingy that goes around all the wheels, the track or tread thing that moves the tank along.
I would prefer using something prepared rather than trying to make it myself but....
If I took some kind of chocolate bar and cut it into strips and slightly melted it could I hatch it into tread looking thing? Would that work? Do Hershey Bars still come scored into little rectangles? If not, does anyone else make one that is?
Is there any kind of long, tube type thing that could be used as a "cannon"? (Not licorice.)
I've already looked up all the "army cake", "military cake" images and I wasn't really impressed (except for the tank cake made for the Army birthday -- that was pretty cool).
Oh. Please, don't suggest fondant!
Or marzipan.
If you had to make a cake that looked like a tank or some other kind of military artillery what would you do?
Thanks!
@boomerang,
Is it supposed to be edible?
Yes. I would prefer it be edible.
I have some plastic soldiers for additional decoration but I thought I would put them around the cake on a coconut and cookie crumb scene. The cake is going to be small so I can do extra stuff surrounding it.
@boomerang,
Those really big chocolate hershey bars are still segmented, but if they are going to be used for the tread, you will need a really big cake. Possibly a chocolated covered pretzel stick will work for the gun tube. Might not even need the chocolate.
@boomerang,
Can you get Pirouline or something similar there?
Bake some brandy snaps - you can adjust the size for your cake.
They're a bit lacy, but if you fill them with a choco cream it won't be as noticeable.
You might be able to use black licorice vines for the tread. Just cut them to the proper width, split them and line them up side by side so they look like the tread.
For the turret, just bake a smaller square shaped cake in scale with the body of the tank. Just do some carving to round off the edges of it. Then you can stick the cannon in the side of it.
Have you seen these photos of tank cakes? Some good ideas in these photos, including your idea about the Hershey bar.
http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/birthday-cake-picture.html
@boomerang,
Marzipan, not chocolate, is the answer - can be molded to any shape:
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Smartech-Front-Knuckle-Arm
Candy cane or similar for the barrel? You could paint it with icing or dip it in chocolate.
Or a candle.
Use the plastic tracks from a toy tank, and just don't serve it as food.
@Butrflynet,
There's photos of 48 different tank cakes at the link I posted above; each has a description of what was used in the decorating.
Yeah! I can do this! Thank you all for the ideas.
My "have a few friends over after school on your birthday" kind of evolved into a "party" so I need to kick it into gear. It is still going to be only a four friends but his bio-grandparents called and they want to come by that afternoon, after school, blahblahblah. That's cool but now the birthday aspect of the get-together can't be ignored. But still, I don't want some jumbo cake around since there are going to be so few people.
Maybe I can make mini-tanks out of my mini-loaf pans......
@boomerang,
Sheet cake with plastic toy tanks and army men on top. Green icing, marshmellow sandbags, etc.
@DrewDad,
You can't eat plastic toys! I would like the whole thing to be edible. But I do have some action figures to complete my tableaux.
Marshmallow sandbags! Brilliant!
BTW - finding plastic army men is hard these days. I looked in several stores and then started calling around. Zip. Zilch. Nada. I finally found some at this wonky little store in my neighborhood.
Lots of cool ones on Amazon though.
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