One of my most favorite clients ever asked me to create a steampunk cake for her husbands birthday. The catch? I get to do whatever I want. Oh wait, that’s not really a catch, more like a reason to get completely excited and go way over the top and make the most epic steampunk cake everrrrrrr.

So yeah, I went a little crazy with the details! I can’t help it! I looovveee details. My lovely intern helped cut a bazillion gears using these PERFECT gear cutters that I got from Ruthrickey.com. I made the gear pattern on the board and on the cakes by using a gear stencil I purchased from Mimi Hood who makes some AMAZING custom stencils. You can use these to airbrush over or you can use luster dusts. I absolutely adore the dusts from thesugarart.com

I wanted to create a real show stopper and knew I wanted a lot details so we made as many things in advance as possible. I always decorate my cakes in two days (bake and then decorate the next day) so that the cake is as fresh as possible. We made a TON of gears, the lights, the wings, the little gear houses and the structure in advance so we had those things ready to go.

What would a steampunk cake be without steam?? I decided to incorporate some steam effects using dry ice. I have never used dry ice on a cake before so it was a fun experiment. I used a tin can as the ice holder and a small plastic container for the ice holder on top of the airship. Add hot water and VOILA! Steam! I drilled holes near the bottom of the can so that the steam could escape through “pipes” that I had created out of chocolate

I also attached some battery operated LED lights to some cake pop sticks and modeling chocolate to make some lighted effects for the cake. I kept imagining little steampunk people walking around in this city I had created. I really never wanted this cake to end. I could have kept adding details but eventually you have to deliver! I simply cannot wait to make another steampunk cake <3