sometimes to amuse myself I make things out of cake…

yah I do this on occasion. I can’t do it everyday or it gets tiresome but when the mood strikes, kitschy edible sculpture projects have bizarre appeal. My cousin dean and his girlfriend jenny created the very cool short film Marcel the Shell which (by now I expect you have seen if you are internet savvy). Marcel made it into the Sundance film festival this year. 

So in honor of the accomplishment I made this for our Christmas dinner party. I crafted this marcel the shell cake out of cake and fondant. Poor smart son #3 developed this deep attachment to the cake and kept asking for marcel the rest of vacation and expecting me to make more of them…

well in case you ever need to know how to make marcel the shell in 3d cake form. You start with almond pound cake cooked in small loaf pans for the shoes, a 6” round (cut in half and remaining half used to build out the 3-d form of the shell, and some mini cupcakes (for the ends of the shells) You need  a batch of buttercream frosting and a batch of marshmallow fondant. I crafted this while watching 1/2 of the movie White Christmas (a requisite holiday activity).

Really it was pretty easy and fun… to which you will probably respond in your best marcel voice “oh yah compared to what??!!”