Here is a fun fact about me you don’t know. I have eighteen nieces and nephews with one more due to arrive in May. Isn’t that crazy? The youngest of them is Isaiah. He is such a great kid and I am so proud to be his Auntie! Yesterday my sister and brother-in-law hosted a fabulous party celebrating his 1 yr Birthday with 150 of their closest friends and family. Part of my birthday gift to my sweet nephew was to make a small birthday cake he could eat all to himself. When trying to come up with ideas on what type of cake to make I had a difficult time trying to “figure it out”. There was no theme for the party other than the colors yellow and grey. I also wanted to come up with a design complimenting the style of Isaiah and his parents. My nephew has the cutest Converse All-Star sneakers and when I saw them last week I instantly knew I had found my inspiration. I asked if I could bring his shoes home with me and from there I started to make mental notes of how I would re-create them.
The cake version had to be a realistic (as possible) replica of his shoes to scale. I textured fondant to make the shoes have a canvas type of appearance. I painted edible silver metallic paint for lace eyelets and used food coloring pens to write Isaiah’s name and to draw a black line around the base of the shoe. I tried to make some of the seams look frayed and the cake itself were 3 cupcakes (per shoe) bonded together by buttercream frosting and carved to look like Isaiah’s shoe.
After attaching the last eyelet I took a step back and just beamed with happiness. The shoes were better than I could have hoped for. I quickly took a picture with my phone and sent it to my sister. She texted me immediately afterward sharing her excitement about the finished cake. By the time I cleaned up the kitchen I was so tired I accidentally grabbed the cakes believing they were the real shoes and stayed up a little longer fixing whatever it was that needed fixing as a result.. oops!
My sister sent me this picture of Isaiah eating his birthday shoe this morning. I’m told there is video as well and I can’t wait to see it. Anyway, I wanted to share with you a clever idea for a kids birthday cake. I plan on doing a more detailed tutorial of how I made this cake in the future eventually, stay tuned!
Sally Sonderson says
Wow! All the cakes are just great!
Wicked Goodies says
Nicely done! Very realistic-looking 🙂
eiersatz says
This cake is amazing, I am really speechless! This is such a fantastic work, wonderful findant and I can imagine the happy boy’s face!
TTY says
You coped my idea
get homework answers says
those sneakers look very tasty
Rachael says
This is just great! I was wondering what you used on the bottom for the sole of the shoe? Is it fondant or fondant gumpaste ratio?
Brighton Baker says
Wow I love these – they are so cute! Definitely going to take some inspiration from you x
Paula says
Hi Alice,
Do you have the tutorial on how to make this sneaker ? I would love love to learn from you.
Thanks
alice says
Hi Jewel, I actually do not bake cakes for sale anymore. However, maybe you could print off the picture to a local bakery and see if they can replicate it.
jewel pearson says
hi my name is jewel pearson this sept 16 2011 is my fiance’s birthday and we are needing a purple high top converse cake can u help and if so how much will u charge
Lorie says
wow this is amazing !!! very cute..
kortnie says
I was wondering when you are going to post the tutorial to make this? I would love to know the details to make this for my nieces first birthday.
Angy says
That’s a fantastic idea, cakes look so natural, from pictures at the beginning I thought that you were putting a cake into snickers and only after I read the article I understood.
Megan Gordon says
Oh my god, what a lucky little guy. This cake is phenomenal, Alice! So impressed!!!!
Jenipher says
Wow! THIS cake it GREAT!! I love it. 😀
Soyon says
Wow… really, amazing.