Converse Shoe Cake

So for those of you who don't know, I was recently laid off from my Office Manager position and was put in a pretty tough spot.  The hubs and I were all ready to buy a big house and were even having it built from the ground up!  But then I was laid off and couldn't find a job for a while so we had to call the whole thing off.  So instead of living off unemployment, I ended up going to work for my friend who owns a company called Shoes on the Way.  Now, I've known John (my friend and current boss) since we were in high school (over 15 years ago)! so I knew I had to make him a really awesome cake!  Obviously, we sell shoes and our main brand is Converse so I thought it'd be awesome to make him a Converse shoe cake!

 

I really had no idea where to start with this cake until the hubby came up with a template for me. I gave him a template I had for little fondant baby shoes and he went from there. So obviously the first step would be to bake your cakes, I used two 9x13" pans, and cut out the sole of the shoe from the template. I didn't level the cake first as the dome in the middle worked in my favor for the shape of the shoe, also be sure to build up the back a little for the heel. Then fill and crumb coat the soles and stick them in the fridge to firm up. Now it's time to cover it with fondant. Normally, to cover a cake you just roll out the fondant and drape it over, but this was different. Converse are made with layers of overlapping canvas which means you have to treat the fondant like canvas basically. Once I cut all my layers of fondant the most important part was remembering what order they go on. First the tongue, then the sides, then the toe cap, followed by the rubber around the sole. The laces are basically an illusion, they don't really go through the holes. I cut strips of fondant and placed them diagonally side to side then placed the rings of white fondant around them to make them appear like they're being laced up. Once you're done with the laces it's time to add the finishing touches such as the All Star tag on the top of the tongue, the two air holes (I guess that's what they are) on the sides of the shoe and the black lines around the soles.  And there you have it, a Converse Shoe Cake!

 

I really need to get better at taking step by step pictures so for now here's the finished product :)