I made this two years ago and since August 3rd is Martha's birthday I thought I would share it again. Of course I needed to make her a cake... But not just any cake, a self portrait. I have a cake decorating book by Kate Sullivan that has some great, very creative cakes in it. One is a Elvis portrait cake, but in the back of the book there is a Martha cake that she had made for the New York Times some years back. I have been wanting to do it since I got the book and what would be more perfect then the divine Miss Martha's birthday....
It started with a picture of Martha covered with Wax paper and then outlined with Royal Icing
I then made more royal icing and filled in the picture. I did dots as Kate Sullivan suggested for everything but Martha's hair which I piped so it looked more like hair
It was a little scary as I went along until it was finished. The skin color was a little too pinkish, but it worked. I was not happy with the nose and kept messing around with it, which I should have stopped. But I was suprised how much it does look like her, although the mouth is a little wierd....
I did the easier method with leaving it on the wax paper and then setting it on the cake, instead of risking the move from the paper to the cake. When it is time to slice it we will just have to pick Martha up. I then did a Martha green basket weave around the edges of the cake and then finished it with pink flowers and leaves.
Happy Birthday Martha!
