Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday Sweets: Lord of the Rings

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Sunday Sweets is our weekly NON-Wrecks feature. This week we're looking at some Tolkien-inspired beauties.

Minas Tirith is one of the more popular LOTR cake themes. Beth A. was the first to submit this one:

I think this was displayed at a fair somewhere, and yep, it's cake. Amazing, huh?

Here's another angle, courtesy of Erin M:

Source
A lot of folks have pics of this cake in their Flickr accounts, but I'm not sure who actually made it. Y'all let me know in the comments if you have a site for the baker, ok?

The One Ring is also a hugely popular motif. Here's my favorite of the ones submitted, also found by Beth A.:

The elvish script is just perfect, and the gold sheen looks fantastic. Again, not sure on the baker for this one.

Since a lot of you have requested more fondant-free Sweets, check out this one of Bilbo & Frodo's home in the Shire:

Thanks to Michelle F. for submitting it. The creator is Cakeworks of Calgary.

Of course, not everything in Middle Earth is pretty, as Deanna T. shows us:

Yikes. This eerily accurate orc (try saying that 3 times fast) was made by Shoshannah84 of Deviant Art. (If you recognize the name, it's because she also made the yellow dragon in my "Fantastical Beasts" post.)

But let's end on a pretty note: check out this gorgeous Minas Tirith wedding cake Tara B. found:

It was made by the bride's sister, who is not a pro baker. Crazy! Plus, the only inedible part is the actual cliff. The wedding was completely LOTR themed, and you can see a few photos of it here. (I'm bummed there aren't more; it sounds amazing.)

Thanks to all the rest of you who submitted photos! Remember, if you have a cake you'd like to nominate as a Sweet, send it to Sunday Sweets [at] Cake Wrecks [dot] com.
V. Nicharico said...

Wow! Just WOW!!!
Those cakes of Minas Tirith are astounding!!

Maggie said...

The last one blows the others out of the water! I love it!

Anonymous said...

Those are all gorgeous. I'll have to show my boyfriend those, he'll really enjoy them. Pretty inspiring stuff for the rest of us non professionals, too.

Unknown said...

Jen,
If you click on the "contact us" link on the bride's LOTR website, she says that she will provide a link to more photos if requested.

Anonymous said...

Between these cakes and the fact that we're quickly being buried in snow, I have a sudden urge to watch all three extended edition versions of the LOTR films back to back!

Word verification: terphy, which sounds like a Middle Earth term

Anonymous said...

I would really love to see more Sunday Sweets that look like cakes I'd actually want to cut into and eat... sure, all these cakes are beautiful, but they hardly ever look TEMPTING. Could we see a "delicious" themed Sunday Sweet?

Anonymous said...

WOW! I am not a fan of LOTR but I want a wedding like that.
All the cakes were fantastic but a lite-up cake...well....takes the cake. HEHEHE!

HMMM>>>I have been trying for a while to get the BF(BIG LOTR FAN) to actually pop the question ..maybe a look at that wedding would convince him. LOL

davor said...

These cakes are really tremendous... especially considering how picky Tolkien fans can be (not that I'm exempt from that). Taking on something like Minas Tirith takes a set of brass ones.

Unknown said...

I am sooo excited. I was looking for a venue for my wedding near Toledo, OH. Now I know EXACTLY were I want it. I'm so psyched!

Chelle said...

Cool.

Now show us the wrecky versions!

Tama said...

That wedding must have been really fun - what a lot of really lovingly-done work! That cake!!

Keemster said...

those are really cool cakes. great works of art. not one of them i would want to cut into and eat.

Anonymous said...

The One Ring kinda looks like an ashtray. A very pretty, brushed metal ashtray.
(Don't mind me...I hate LOTR with a passion hotter than a thousand suns. The cakes are indeed well done, though.)

Anonymous said...

As much as I'd love to believe the bride's sister made that last cake, I'm somewhat suspicious since the photo is so different (frame, name at the bottom) than all of the other photos on the site. :/. Maybe someone should email her and ask for more photo evidence!

Anonymous said...

Wow! I want to get remarried just so I can have a LOTR wedding!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for featuring a fondant-free Hobbit hole! I think it was my favorite.

Long live frosting!

Mindy said...

I am so not a LOTR fan, but those are waaay cool cakes!

Bedlam said...

they are so wonderful. these designers are great!!!

HorribleLicensePlates said...

Taders precious

Anonymous said...

Sweet! I already had decide that this was a good weekend to watch some LOTR dvds! Minas Tirith is amazing. It looks like one of Peter Jackson's miniatures or "bigatures."

Anonymous said...

Looks like cake's back on the menu, boys!

Anonymous said...

The first Minas Tirith cake is from Brisbane's EKKA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekka), but can't figure out if it's a winner to determine the baker...

Elizabeth E. Grey said...

I do hope you've seen this website- http://foodproof.com/blogs/view/post/food-geekery-cakes-416

it looks like you guys might have some things in common. :)

Suzanne Saunders said...

The One Ring Cake was made by an online friend of mine, for a LOTR-themed party ("There and Back Again: Eating Our Way from Bag End to the Grey Havens, A Hobbit's Tale") a couple of years ago. (Alas, I didn't get to attend.) She made quite a lot of LOTR-themed food, listed at Lord of the Rings food on Everything2.com.

Stephanie said...

Yes but does the Minas Tirith cake come with a Denethor candle? ;)

Dale said...

Oh, hey, the one ring cake is mine! A friend just sent me the link, and the picture is by a friend who came to my party. That's hilarious. The gold was 23k gold dust used for candy making, brushed onto a surface of rolled fondant. The cake was white chocolate cake with apricot glaze and cognac buttercream. The lettering was hand done with an 'ink' of red powdered food coloring and assorted luster dusts, thinned with vodka.

Leslie said...

They are all beautiful!

I can not believe a "regular" person made that last one! Amazing!!

Unknown said...

I don't have a site for the baker of the first cake, but it was on display at the 'Ekka' in Brisbane, Australia a few years ago. You might find someone through the Ekka website who can tell you who the baker was.

Bee said...

Very cool. I am not a LOTR person at all, but those cakes are spec-tacular! Yay!

I agree with the "delicious" Sunday Sweets idea. I would love to see something that doesn't look so fragile--not that fragile cakes are bad, just...fragile. :D

Anonymous said...

Wow! Every one of them are beautiful. Love 'em all, but partial to the Minas Tirith one (1st/2nd pix), the detail is simply amazing. It is very commendable to have the patience to make a piece as that. Well done.

Hyena Overlord said...

There is a fabulous Gollum cake out there too, precious...We wants it...we does

Anonymous said...

so next week will be STAR WARS CAKE sweets, right? you can't do LOTR and not do star wars. ^-^

jackie31337 said...

Wendy said... Could we see a "delicious" themed Sunday Sweet?

I'm with Wendy. These cakes are amazing cake art, but I would love to see some Sunday Sweets that look good enough to eat. ;)

WV: siviann (also sounds vaguely middle-earth-ish).

cygirlkat said...

Suzanne and Djinnj, the party sounds wonderful! I'll have to ramble through the pictures of the event.

My problem with these isn't 'they don't look appealing' but 'arrrgh, it's amazing, how can I destroy this'? :)

WV: reconin. I'll have to do some reconin the pics from djinnj's party soon.

Anonymous said...

I love 'em all!

Anonymous said...

I just wanted to tell you that my 3 year old daughter just LOVES your website. She LOVES cake (who doesn't?) and she gets really excited to check out the "birthday cakes" and even she has to giggle about some of them! :)

Anonymous said...

The ring looks fantastic but I don't think I'd eat any of the chicken in the picture it looks a tad undercooked. Eeeeeew!

Tabitha (From Single to Married) said...

wow - while they're not my style of cake, they are very well done!

Blanca said...

The Minas Tirith Cake is so awesome I had a dream about it tonight.

Anonymous said...

The "Shire" cake looks a little too Wreckish to me.

Jess T said...

Wow! Love the ring!

Iris Took said...

These cakes are amazing - I will post a link to you from my blog (inspired by all things Hobbit).

Keep posting - love your blog!

Iris Took

writtenbliss said...

I know the photographer who took the photos at the last wedding ... she may be willing to get us a few more. If I can find them, I'll let you know!

Anonymous said...

Although they can't compare to the real thing, those Minas Tirith cakes are fantastic. There's some lame ones out there, but these are great. And nice one about the Denethor candle... :)

Love the site!

Valraven said...

The orc isn't an orc, it's a goblin.

And I'm a nerd for knowing that...

Anonymous said...

The shire cake is a TOTAL wreck. Most cakes that include plastic figures of any kind normally are.

wintersweet said...

Oh, awesome! I love Cake Wrecks, and I know the person who made the One Ring cake, so I'm pointing her this way!

wintersweet said...

Oops, she'd already posted. I'm an idiot. Anyway, these are all great! Lots of fun! Thanks for rounding them up.

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Anonymous said...

Hi everyone! The last cake was at my wedding and no, my sister does not bake professionally. She is however, a crackhead. lol. It was up to my husband to request what cake to have and of course he asked for every flavor on earth and to have it look like Minas Tirith. My sis took on the task and spent two weeks making the houses out of icing. The actual cake was just store bought mix. Hey, it works! Anyway, I got such a huge response that I put up my wedding on my floral website which is www.leafhopperdesigns.com Come and see the pretties!

Anonymous said...

What I want to know is how the heck you get a cake to glow from within like that?!

Fortytwo said...

The first cake was definitely at the EKKA, I have a photo of it too, and I clearly remember being shocked that it wasn't a winner.

The card on it had no maker's name (at least, none that I can see in my photo of it).

Anonymous said...

Late to the party here, but I had to say that those cakes of Minas Tirith are absolutely STUNNING! It's almost enough to make me want to get married again...almost.

KarlyH said...

I am so jealous. These are amazing and I'm a total LOTR freak! Please post more :) Pretty please with an elven prince on top!?

Elizabeth said...

I WANT ONE! Any of them! Well, except the orc one. But any of the others!

Anonymous said...

Umm… It's not elvish that's on the Ring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Ring#Appearance