Illuminated House Cake Tutorial
Interested in learning how a 3D house cake is constructed? Check out this quickie tutorial and you'll get the general idea on how to make an illuminated 3D house cake of your own! The cake above was a Christmas gift and I was in a rush to put it together, so this tutorial isn't the greatest. But you'll be able to get a good understanding of how this cake was constructed. Pretty soon I will have a complete tutorial up and running along with a printable tutorial. But until then, this will do. :)
First, design a sketch of the house you'd like to make on sturdy cardstock. My sketch is inspired from a photo of my aunt's house on Google Map's "Street View". Cut out the templates and the windows.
Using a mixture of two parts fondant, one part gumpaste, knead together enough for the roof of the house. (For humid climates use  50% fondant 50% gumpaste mixture).
Using gel food coloring, color the fondant/gumpaste mixture for the roof. I used a blend of Wilton Black and Wilton Delphinium Blue.
Roll out the fondant/gumpaste mixture for the roof and lay the template for the roof and cut out all of the roof pieces needed for your project.
Cut out the roof pieces with either an Xacto knife or a large straight-edged tool. I'm using the 5-way tool found at Home Depot.
Using a ruler, or another tool with a long straight edge, make rows of lines evenly spaced to represent the rows of shingles.
Next, using a tool with a short straight edge, make small even marks to represent the shingle pieces. I'm using a tool found in a clay sculpting kit I found at Michaels Craft stores.
Next, blend more fondant and gumpaste (2 parts fondant, 1 part gumpaste), enough for the siding of the house, and color desired color. I used Wilton color gel in Ivory, with a tiny touch of Wilton Brown. Roll out the fondant and using a long straight-edged tool, cut out all of the pieces needed for the siding of the house.
After cutting out each piece, use a ruler or another straight-edged tool to make marks for the siding.
For the front part of the house which will have light-up windows, use an Xacto knife to lightly trace the outline of the windows - do not cut them out yet.
Make the marks for the siding. Set aside fondant pieces for at least 5 days to dry and become stiff.
After fondant pieces have dried, it's time to decorate! Stack up enough cake to fill the inside of the house, leaving about 1 to 1 1/5 inches of space between the cake and the front of the house - this space will be filled with lights. Also, ensure your cake is slightly smaller than your templates to allow for a thin layer of frosting and a thin layer of fondant. Frost entire outside of cake and freeze for at least 45 minutes to an hour.
Next, take any sides with windows and cut the windows out with an Xacto knife or razor blade.
Because the front piece of the house will be standing alone, we will need to add extra support. Using cakepop sticks, trim them down to be just smaller than the fondant piece.
To glue them into place, melt down candy melts according to package directions and generously smear across the cakepop sticks. Make sure the candy melts are close to room temperature - if they are too hot they may damage the fondant piece.
Next, add candy glass pieces to the windows. If you need a recipe for candy glass, you can find one in the cake tutorials section of this blog or click here.
After cake has been sitting in the freezer for a while, remove it and place the templates on it and carve it to the shape needed.
After cake has been carved, place back in the refrigerator for at least a half hour or more to harden, then remove from refrigerator and cover in fondant. Next, "glue" the siding pieces on the house by using melted candy melts.
Be sure to allow a 1" to 1 1/2" space between the front of the house and the cake to allow for lights.
Next, using a battery operated string of lights, or individual LED lights with a coin battery taped to them, wrap the lights in saran wrap and then place them between the cake and front siding piece.
Now for the roof! Generously smear some melted candy melts onto the top part of the house and set the roof piece on top of the house.
My house will have a front porch with a roof, so I added a short cakepop stick to support the roof. I also added the shutters and door.
Then, using Royal Icing For Outlining (can be found in the recipes section of this blog), pipe snow and icicles on the roof of the house. Then using fondant, decorate the cake base with snow and whatever decorations you want! And there you have it! You now know how to CAKE that!