Chanel Bag Cake

“Fashion Fades, Style Endures.” …Channel

A very very dear friend of mine was celebrating her birthday. She wanted a cake and knowing that I work best when given a free hand, she asked me to make something nice for her. I in turn knew she was a fashionista and chose to make a Chanel bag for her. This is my very first bag cake. All I had made before now were purse cakes for kids which can be found here and here.

The bag is the actual cake and it is made up of 8 layers of French vanilla sponges frosted with vanilla buttercream. The bag covering, shoe, purse, bracelet and cake board were made with marshmallow fondant. One reason why I love marshmallow fondant is that though it is not as pliable as regular fondant it dries up easily. While this might be a negative for some cake makers, it is a big positive for me. When making designs such as this in which you have fondant suspending without any form of support (top of bag, bag strap), you want your fondant to dry quickly so it stays in place.

Making this bag was a very frustrating experience but I was determined to make it work. It is modeled after a classic Chanel bag complete with large golden circles for the bag straps to pass through and the golden Chanel symbol. The bag also has the iconic Chanel diamond pattern.

I decided on making a few accessories to go with the bag. This is the second time I was making a fondant shoe and I am glad it worked in spite of the relatively short notice I was given for this order. My first fondant shoe can be found here. I have a tutorial here on how to make fondant stilettos.

I made the bracelet at the very last minute as I felt the cake needed another element.

Before making the bracelet, I tried my hands on a bottle of Chanel No 5 perfume. It however did not make it to the final cake as it looked obviously fake. I love my cakes to look as real as possible. I still have this Chanel No 5 perfume bottle.

This cake was well received and I’m glad I went for it.