Cameron's Dress Form Cake

This is a cake for which I am VERY proud!! It was done by Cameron (and only Cameron! :) for our local county fair. I thought ya'll might want to see the process pics for this one, too. She worked very hard - from sketches to support structure to baking and fondant/gumpaste making to expert carving and so on. I have never done anything like this and I know I wouldn't have been able to do it as well as she did it. She did make the "Top 10", but unfortunately no further because her support structure did not fit their rules. She is ready to try again next year!

The "floor" is a chocolate cake covered with marbled fondant "tiles" and buttercream for the "grout". The dress is Madeira Sponge Cake with alternating layers of buttercream and chocolate ganache. Then the entire dress form was covered with chocolate ganache. The "neck" of the dress form is krispy rice treats, but shoulders on down is all cake. The pipe between the bottom board and dress is covered in fondant and painted with color gel. The neck and shoulders are covered with tinted homemade marshmallow fondant as is the "ruching" on the dress. Brooch and belt are gumpaste painted with bronze pearl dust.

The bottom support board is 3/4" thick plywood. There is a support board (foamboard) for every four layers of cake and a small plywood board at the very bottom of the dress. A galvanized pipe (covered with plastic wrap) runs through the center of the entire cake.