This was a fun cake requested by a client for her husbands 30th surprise birthday bash. She wanted to make light of the fact he was turning the BIG 30 so we decided on an old man themed cake.

The lower cake is vanilla with strawberry filling and the chair is made out of lemon cake (the birthday boys favorite). After carving the chair out of cake and icing it in buttercream, I used blue modeling chocolate to cover it and make it look like an old leather chair that my dad used to have when I was a kid. It was REALLY ugly but he loved it.

I quilted the backside of the chair just to give it some detail from all angles.

The “old guy” is made out of fondant I’m pretty happy with how he turned out, especially his belly and the overall look of his face. He just looks like the nicest old man you’d ever meet!

I added a “newspaper” at his feet made out of rice paper and edible ink. The image on the paper is one the client sent me. It is a caricature of them both that they had done on one of his previous birthdays. I thought it would be fun to use on the newspaper.

I really enjoyed making this cake, especially because it’s not your typical 30th birthday themed cake! I love doing new and fun things!