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With Sprinkles on Top

March 27, 2012

Harley Davidson Birthday Cake

A friend of mine (hi, Alyssa!) asked me to make her mother a birthday cake. Her mom was turning fortysomething and LOVES Harley Davidson motorcycles. Awesome! I love a good challenge, but I also knew that attempting to create that logo out of fondant could shave a year or two off my life. I was right. It was the most challenging design I’ve done – but I’m so happy with how it turned out!

It’s also fitting that I was asked to make this cake just weeks before I move to Milwaukee (the home of Harley Davidson). Ride on!

  • I made a three-layer 10″ cake. The bottom and top layers were white cake dyed orange and the center layer was chocolate. I tried to make a black layer, but it looks more gray than anything else. Sadface.
  • I frosted the cake with buttercream icing.
  • I created the Harley logo out of black and orange fondant. I used Fondarific fondant, which I ordered from Amazon.com. I highly recommend it!
  • I printed out a large high-quality version of the logo and used that as my template. I traced the general shape of the logo, but cut the letters out by hand (tracing just didn’t do the job well enough). Invest in a set of Exacto knives if you’re going to be doing a lot lettering – it makes it easier!
  • I surrounded the cake with little balls of black and orange fondant to give it a more finished appearance.
  • Let me know if you have any questions!
  • Posted In: birthday, novelty

    Comments

    1. Laura says

      March 27, 2012 at 7:22 am

      How do you get the buttercream so smooth??

      Amazing cake!

      Reply
      • Annie says

        March 27, 2012 at 10:15 am

        Thanks, Laura! I frost the cake and allow the frosting to “set”, meaning that if you touch it, your hand will come away frosting-free. Then I use a Viva paper towel (smooth, with no patterns or designs) to smooth the cake. Here’s a video explaining the technique: http://www.monkeysee.com/play/988-cake-decorating-a-secret-to-smoothing-icing

        Reply
    2. Mary-Michael McDonald says

      March 27, 2012 at 10:27 am

      So cool! My husband would love this. Thanks for the tips!

      Reply
    3. Mary-Michael McDonald says

      March 27, 2012 at 10:33 am

      OK, I just watched that video and that is about the handiest tip ever for this perfectionist! I spent an hour on my last cake trying to get it smooth just using my off set spatula. I about lost my mind. Thank you, thank you!!

      Reply
    4. Annie says

      March 27, 2012 at 10:44 am

      I know what you mean — getting the icing to be smooth can be maddening! Hope the tip helps :)

      Reply
    5. Laura R. says

      March 27, 2012 at 11:19 am

      Great job on this! Looks awesome.

      Reply
    6. Annie says

      March 27, 2012 at 11:29 am

      Thank you! :)

      Reply
    7. Hannah says

      March 27, 2012 at 10:43 pm

      That looks really good! I’ve never worked with fondant, but i’ve always wanted to… :)

      Reply
    8. Alice says

      April 1, 2012 at 1:26 pm

      My dad’s gonna love it!
      I love your cakes, even though it’s sometimes challenging cause i live in France and most of the time i can’t find the ingredients you talk about…

      Reply
      • Annie says

        April 1, 2012 at 10:51 pm

        Thanks for the comment, Alice! Feel free to e-mail me if you ever have questions about supplies or what I’m talking about :)

        Reply
    9. Alice says

      April 7, 2012 at 3:56 am

      I will, thanks for offering ! :)

      Reply
    10. Ursula Carpio says

      September 13, 2013 at 5:43 am

      That cake looked amazing , I wanna make the same cake to my husband , can I make the logo in advanced or it has to be on day before, because I have some thing to do, let me know, thank you

      Reply
      • Annie says

        September 13, 2013 at 7:12 am

        I’m not sure if you could make the logo ahead of time. The danger is that the fondant will dry out. Maybe you could do a test run — roll out a thin sheet of fondant about the size of the logo and see what happens if it sits out over night or for a few days. Maybe it’ll dry out, maybe it won’t. Sorry I can’t be of more help!

        Reply
    11. James leach says

      March 22, 2015 at 1:53 am

      i want one can u make me one

      Reply

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    Welcome!

    Meet Annie

    My name is Annie, I live in Wisconsin, and this blog has been an off-and-on hobby of mine since 2008.

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