MD Graduation Cake

Robin just graduated from medical school and in her honor, Sarah ordered a graduation cake to surprise her. Ehren, Robin's hubby, and Sarah planned an awesome bash with friends, food, and cake to celebrate her huge accomplishment. Robin's favorite color is purple and so we did a purple and black themed cake complete with a stethoscope, grad hat, and poem. The poem on the side was one that Sarah thought would give the cake an extra special touch. It reads:
"Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the Horror of the shade, and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find, me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."

I wrote the poem with an edible marker onto a flat piece of fondant. Then, I placed the "paper" onto the sides of a fake cake in order to dry and set into the shape it's in now. By making the poem in advance, it dried in this position and so I could move it easily and I knew it wouldn't lose its shape. The stethoscope and hat also had to be made in advance in order for them to dry in time since everything is made of sugar. I rolled out some fondant and cut out the top of the hat to let it dry for about a day. I formed the bottom of the hat with fondant and let that dry as well. I made the tassel by rolling a tube of fondant and cutting "strings" with scissors. My goodness, this is hard to explain! :) I hope it makes sense though.

The feedback I received on this cake was awesome. Sarah and Ehren both said that Robin LOVED the cake and that it couldn't have been better. Robin's favorite flavors are lemon and chocolate so the top tier was a lemon cake layered with chocolate buttercream. The bottom tier was Strawberry Not-so-Short Cake (strawberry cake with strawberries baked inside layered with vanilla cream filling and buttercream). Congratulations on your huge accomplishment, Robin!

For those of you on facebook, you might have noticed that I'm pretty behind in posting these latest cakes on my cake blog. I'm trying to work my way up to the most current cakes and I apologize for my delay. For all of you who read my blog, please feel free to find me on facebook and "friend" me there! Thank you!