How to Make a Roast Pig Cake

"Roast Pig Cake" - Part 1

Start by performing the easy task of baking the following:

     three 9x13 sheet cakes

     one 9 inch round cake

     one 9x9 square cake

     and one cake in a medium sized pyrex bowl

               (approx 9 inches in diameter) 

(I cheated and used boxed mixes and, because I was making this monstrosity for my daughters birthday, I let Natalie pick the flavors.) 

Before assembling, make sure you have a very sturdy base, as your pig will weigh approximately that of a real one and can't be moved from its base once assembly begins.  

That said, assemble using generous amounts of frosting(any flavor for inside of the pig). And when I say "generous," I mean it! Think of the frosting as glue for your cake.  If you look at my pictures, you'll see that I did not use enough between layers and this caused the side of my pig to fall just before the party!!  Aaarrghh!!!!!  

To make the head, cut a flat edge on the round and bowl cakes and stand on edge, frosting liberally between each piece as well as between the body of the cake. (Again, I neglected to do this and the head kept wanting to separate from the body.) 

We'll get to facial details later, but for now fashion the snout out of rice krispy treats. I pressed a couple of prepackaged ones into a measuring cup and then moulded in a mouth/snout shape.  I then used an apple to prop it into place.  You will need to place long cake dowels through the snout, head and neck, and into the body in order to help stabilize all of the pieces. 

Finally, cut rectangular legs from the square cake and frost to the sides of the body.

"Roast Pig Cake" - Part 2

Cover entire cake with vast amounts of white buttercream frosting (I used three large containers of Wilton Icing from Joann Fabrics)  Use the "Viva paper towel method" to smooth the frosting and to help "shape" the pig(see separate pin on Pinterest or Google it).

"Roast Pig Cake" - Part 3

After smoothing the frosting, use a butter knife to press in the details of the pig(eyes, nostrils, hooves).  To give a "skin" color,  spray the entire cake with a light coating of Wilton Color Mist, orange and then purple.

"Roast Pig Cake" - Part 4

For the "glazed" look, mix light corn syrup with brown food coloring(I also used a little red to pink it up a little) and, using a good quality pastry brush, paint on the glaze.  It will run, so don't load the brush. You can always clean up the drips on the base later with a damp paper towel.

"Roast Pig Cake" - Part 5

Using black food coloring and/or black Wilton Color Mist, "paint" on facial details and black hooves.

"Roast Pig Cake" - Ears and Tail

Do this several day ahead of time...Using a thick marzipan, cut two triangles and shape into ears, thinning the marzipan toward the tips of the ears.  Roll a piece of marzipan into a piggy's curly tail, thicker at the base than at the tip.  Let all dry for a couple of days and then "paint" the same way you did the pig, letting marzipan dry between each coat. I suggest you make several ears and tails, in case one breaks. Keep in the refrigerator until you need to place them on the cake. Use toothpicks or small skewers to attach to the cake.

"Roast Pig Cake" - Arrow through the Apple

To create and arrow, I used two dowels, painting them both silver and then shaped marzipan into an arrowhead around one end of one dowel.  Once the marzipan dried, I painted that silver as well.  I cut and glued two white feathers(Hobby Lobby) to the end of the other dowel and then inserted both into the apple to give the appearance of an arrow having been shot through it!

"Roast Pig Cake" - Lessons Learned

I hope that all of you moms out there who are crazy enough to indulge your little angels desire of a roast pig at her party will find this particular post helpful!  I practiced for several weeks prior to creating the final version in an attempt to find the easiest way to get a roast pig cake.  This is what I learned... It's easiest just to pay a good baker/cake gallery to do it for you!  

But if you'r crazy like me, or you want the eternal adoration, respect, and cooperation of you little angel, then let her see as you struggle to come up with just the right combination of frosting coloring!  Oh, and by "eternal" I mean "until the party is over."

Okay, so this is why I am trying blogging...

Let me explain...Like a lot of addicts, it started out with experimenting here and there.  Nothing serious at first.  I just dabbled with the occasional internet search.  But my first life-changing foray, many many moons ago, was with the unreal swiftness of e-mail.  I could send a letter to a friend and, provided they also knew of this amazing new thing called e-mail, they could receive it instantaneously!  I was hooked!  No need to find an envelope, lick a stamp, or, God forbid,walk to the mailbox and lift the little metal flag.  I only needed to stay in my (sort of) comfy desk chair and hit "send."  It was that quick.  And that easy.

The next step in my descent into the technological abyss came with the invention of social websites, Facebook in particular.  I tried to resist, I really really did.  But the pull was too strong.  And so many of my friends were doing it.  Family members too!  I know!  Crazy, right?  My own little sister was pressuring me. "Everybody does it, Mindy!" So one day, I just did it too.  I created an account and before I knew what I was doing, I was trapped in a world of "likes" and "tags," throwing virtual donuts at people I hadn't spoken to since I was in 7th grade!  But everyone was doing it.  And besides, how else was I going to be able to see all those adorable pics of my nieces and nephews who lived out of state? How else was I going to wish my sisters Happy Birthday or let my husband know just how very much I loved him on our anniversary?  If I didn't use Facebook, I would never know that, while I stalked friends on a rainy October morning in Chicago, Jay from my 6th hour Pre-Algebra class in 8th grade was getting a double shot Skinny Venti Caramel Machiato with no whip from a Starbucks in San Diego! If it weren't for my addiction, I would never have known!!!!

Which leads me to the third step toward my ultimate destination. Well, really this is the third and final, but not last step.  Pinterest.  This is my ultimate goal, to become a Pin master.  Like most people, Pinterest first came into my world through the usual conduit of Facebook.  I began noticing little notes on the side of my wall, "Lora commented on 'Sock Darning' on Pinterest, "Melissa re-pinned 'Hot Men of the OFD' on Pinterest." It was like they were taunting me with this new stimulant, yet they weren't actually offering it to me!  I had to investigate!  I admit, I just jumped in, not knowing what to expect, not fully understanding the power of Pinterest.  But in it I found an amazing medium to share all those cool things I found during those internet searches!  And heck, maybe I could share all the cool things I'd created over the years as well!  So I tried. I did.  I only wanted to Pin about the roast pig cake I made for Natalie's birthday, BUT IT WOULDN"T LET ME DO IT THE WAY I WANTED TOO!!!  I had plans!  I had aspirations!  I had all these great visions in my head of how my board would look!  But I couldn't make it work!  The concept of Pinterest was so potent, but the tools offered were so limiting!!  I was crushed, frustrated, beyond hope.  No one would ever know just how many boxes of cake mix it took to make a roast pig.  No one would ever know the right formula for creating a faux roast pig skin glaze.  

Which is why I am here, blogging about my failed attempt to Pin directions for Roast Pig Cake.  It occurred(belatedly) to me, that I was supposed to be pinning things from other websites.  That was the way to get things up on Pinterest.  But the problem was that my directions weren't on a website.  They were in my head and in a series of carefully shot photos on my Macbook.  I couldn't mesh Pinterest with my pictures, or my head, in a manner that made sense.  And then lightening struck!  I recalled my sister Lori's blog online and thought, maybe, just maybe, I could BLOG my directions and pictures and then Pin my blog!!! AAAAAAHHHHHHH! <---(think divine voices from Heaven singing that)  

So here I am, wasting a perfectly pleasant October afternoon, not stalking my Facebook friends, not doing the stacks of laundry that are waiting, not packing for my trip to Omaha in two days.  Nope.  Not me.  Instead, I am learning to blog so that I can Pin directions for Roast Pig Cake and all my friends on Facebook can see a little note on the right of their walls that says "Melinda pinned 'How to Make Roast Pig Cake' on Pinterest." And if you don't see it there, don't worry.  Once I figure it out, I'll be sure to send you all an e-mail.