3D sculpted letterman jacket cake for a basketball player, frosted with smooth buttercream and decorated in modeling chocolate.
- Free: Recipes for modeling chocolate
- Recipe and instructions: Smooth Buttercream Cake Frosting
- Free video tutorial: Chocolate Cake Writing
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thank you very much for all the info,I am not a pro at making cakes especially like this one.My grandson graduates next year and he really liked this cake so I told him I would try to make it and I have all year to practice. which I will do. so any other tips you have I would greatly appreciate them and I will send pitcures and tips on how it
turned out.Thank you again
Hi, I would really like to make the letterman jacket cake for a graduation open house but I cant find the instruction on how to do this. can you please tell me where I can find them? thank you
Hi Sandy,
Oh boy have you got a fun adventure in store with a 3D cake like that! Some lucky graduate is going to be thrilled.
I don’t have a tutorial on this particular sculpted cake but I can tell you a couple of tricks about how I tackled it, which should save you some time.
BAKING
The actual cake part was made from two half sheet cakes. One served as the body of the jacket. The other, I cut in half the long way for arms. There was almost no carving involved, just a little slicing away of the pointy corners.
WRAPPING
I decorated the arms and body of the jacket separately, as three independent components, beginning with a crumb coat of buttercream. Then I draped sheets of modeling chocolate around each component loosely, crimping and creasing around the ends where cuffs would eventually go. Then I assembled the three components together on the serving platter, which in this case was made of plexiglass. Where the upper arms meet the chest, you can see the seam where the arms were pressed to the upper chest just as a real jacket gets sew together.
DECORATING
Once the cake was staged, I added the modeling chocolate cuffs, hem and collar, which were textured for a knitted look. Lastly, I added the varsity letter, buttons, pocket openings, etc. I piped the name in melted white chocolate and drew the Scholar Athlete lettering using food coloring pens.
It was a lot of work, definitely more challenging than the average sculpted cake. I suggest giving yourself lots more time than you think you need.
P.S. I would be delighted if you came back and posted a photo of your results here, maybe tell us little bit how it went so the next baker who comes along wondering how to make a letterman jacket can learn from your pointers.
So, no fondant? I’m hoping to make one for my 50th class reunion