Running Shoe on Opened Gift Box Cake

A friend wanted a cake for a sister-in-law who is quite athletic and loves running. I thought about making a 2 dimensional running shoe topper on a round cake. After thinking about it some more, I finally decided to take up the challenge and make an actual shoe. Then the thought came to me, “a shoe on a round cake does not say much; why not make it a gift box?” I finally settled for a running shoe on an opened gift box. There is no telling what you can achieve when you put your mind to it.

This is a two tier cake. The top tier is a butter chocolate cake frosted with chocolate buttercream. The bottom tier bottom tier is an 8 inch square French vanilla sponge cake frosted with vanilla buttercream. Both cakes are covered in marshmallow fondant. The cake board was also covered with marshmallow colored to look like wood.

The first thing I made was the ipod and running band which needed a few days to dry. I made the earphones after the whole cake was put together. This is because they needed to be draped on the cake.

The bottom tier was made before the top tier. This bottom tier is divided into 2 parts: the box itself and the lid. In the middle of both is gift wrapping paper in a contrasting gold color. I tied to promote the illusion of an opened box by making the ribbons fall to the sides and hang on the top of the cake.

The running shoe was made last partly because I was scared of making it and didn’t have a clue on how to go about it. But patchwork by patchwork, I got it done, working my way into the early hours of the morning. There were times I hated it and wanted to abort the whole project, but i kept pushing on. Though I am certain that my next shoe project would turn out a lot better than this one, I am satisfied with how this turned out.

The thing I love most about this cake is that there is some randomness to it, albeit a very logical form of randomness. This makes it look somewhat real. Needless to say that it was a jaw dropper.

For other box cake ideas, do check out my Jewelry Gift Box Cake.

About Terry Adido

Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.