Shoe Cakes

Equipment:
 
tracing paper and fine-tip pen
piece of thin plastic or stiff cardstock
X-Acto knife
small rolling pin
2 square cake boards for drying the shoes (the size is not important as long as there is minimum 2 inch difference between the sizes)
sharp knife
5 piping bags
no. 3 and no. 1.5 icing tips
 
Preparing the cakes
 
Cover each cake with a base coat of your choice and the white rolled fondant top coat. Let dry overnight. Surround the cakes with double layers of ribbons, fixed in place with a dab of royal icing.

Decorating the cakes
 
Trace the shoe template on p. 218 onto a thin piece of plastic or stiff cardstock and cut out with an X-Acto knife. Knead the tan and black petal pastes until smooth and pliable, then roll them on a sugardusted countertop to a thickness of just 1/8 inch. Cut out 2 templates for each pair of shoes: half tan, the other half black.

Stack the 2 square cake boards with the smallerone centrally on top. Place the shoe soles around the edge of the cake boards as shown, shaping the soles so that the heel is on the top board and the toe on the base board. Roll a long, thin strand each of tan and black petal paste to make the heels, and cut with a sharp knife into
3/8 inch lengths. Let dry 1 hour.

To pipe the toes, fit 2 of the piping bags with a no. 3 tip and fill one with peach and one with black royal icing. Using the black icing, pressure-pipe the toe of each of the black soles to fill the front of the shoe. This can then be overpiped with a bow piped from a piping bag fitted with a no.1.5 tip and filled with red icing, decorated with a round glittered pearl (or use a silver dragee sugar decoration) or left plain. Repeat, building up the toes, using the tan royal icing on the tan soles.

Build up the back of each tan-soled shoe, using the remaining peach icing in a bag fitted with a no. 1.5 tip, and the remaining black icing for each black soled shoe, in another bag with the same-size tip. Pipe along the outline of the shoe from one side of the toe to the other, letting the icing fall into position. Pipe a second line over the first, starting and finishing a little way back. Repeat with a third and fourth line, starting each a little further back. Leave 1 hour.

Turn the shoes on their side and ice the heels into position. Leave 1 hour, then ice the shoes into position.