A 3D Mountain Cake
For Rhonda & Darren’s wedding….
This was my inspiration, Mount Temple in Banff:
photo by John G. Wilbanks
This was a mountain of cake. Literally. This cake weighed about 40 lbs. That’s 40 lbs of cake, buttercream icing and fondant. Here’s what the inside looked like:
And thank goodness for walk-ins! Here it was all packed up, this cake needed a cart to move around:
There’s a special story behind the van. I had a chance to see the van in person, and I was really impressed with what a unique vehicle it is. To make room for an extra sleeping spot, it’s even got a roof that folds up! They told me that when they first got the van it had been sitting on a beach and it was a true surfer’s van – full of sand, and even a surfing poster tacked onto the roof. Here are her words:
“We bought a 1981 Volkswagen Camper Van with the pop top roof in California about five years ago. We flew down to L.A. and drove it home without incident (amazingly). We were going to take a year to rebuild the van and it took us five. It’s inaugeral camping trip was the September long weekend last year and we almost froze (it snowed of course), because a van from California does not have a gas heater… regardless we had lots of fun.”
Here’s their actual van:
And here it is as a cake (chocolate cake with vanilla icing):
Rhonda & Darren spend most of their time in the mountains, enjoying the life! Skiing, biking, paddleboarding, and just being in the great outdoors – that’s what this cake was all about.
I’m so grateful to have a chance to work with such a wonderful couple. I think they really share a philosophy that I live by as well – and that is that you live only once, so live life to it’s fullest.
Congratulations Rhonda & Darren!
CakeStories.ca 
How did you make those trees? please share, they are amazing! all your work is spectacular! 🙂
Hi Kelly, the trees are shaped out of gumpaste using scissors. Thanks for looking!
-Rose
Hi! your cakes are wonderful! how do you make fondant look glossy like that?
Hello, thank you for the question. It looks glossy in the photo because the cake is cold, and was coming up to room temp – in other words, it’s just some condensation. Yes, both gel paste and liquid food color was used to paint the cake.
Thanks for looking!
Rose
and are you using gel paste to paint the greens and the mountain?
Rose, how did you get the different textures on the fondant mountain? I’ve got to create a cave cake and I think the technique would work well.
Hi Laura,
Thank you for your question. I used the back of a paring knife for the rock texture. The snow is just royal icing.
Hope that helps,
Rose
Thanks Rose!
Hi Rose, what colors did you use for the Mountain cake? I found your web site today and I love your cakes, Thank you for helping us with your ideas.
Martha
Black, green, and some brown.
Thank you for looking,
Rose
Hi, this cake is for how many people, a friend of mine ask me for a mountain cake for 180 or 200 people and I am try to figure out how big this cake will be.
Thanks
Hi Martha, this cake fit on a 18 x 26 inch board, and was about 14″ at it’s highest point, and served over 60. How many it serves depends on how big the pieces are. I anticipate a mountain of cake for 180 to 200 people will be a very big cake.
Hope that helps,
Rose
Hi rose,
I just stumbled up on your amazing looking cake. How did you get the different collors in the mountain? And did you just use black for the mountain or also grey? Is there a tutorial or something on how to create this mountain?
Thanks – Maartje
Hello Maartje,
I airbrushed the mountain using shades of black, brown and green. A lighter coating of black will appear as grey. After the airbrush colour was dry, royal icing was applied to appear as snow.
Hope that helps, R