Several months ago I stumbled upon a tutorial for a schnauzer cake. I quickly bookmarked it and figured I’d follow the tutorial as a surprise for my husband. About a week before his birthday I decided I’d give it a go. Then I spent the rest of the week planning and worrying. What was I getting myself into? Technically, I’ve never even made a cake before!
So let’s just say up front: the results were silly and a little goofy. It’s lopsided. It doesn’t look completely unlike our cuddly canine, George the mini schnauzer. My muse, however, refused to join in me in the kitchen so I was forced to work from memory. But I do take some pride in the fact that I blog even the things that don’t look picture perfect.
First things first: I wanted the cake to be completely edible. So I opted not for Styrofoam and instead used rice krispie treats. I made a head and a muzzle and attached the two with skewers. I then covered it in vanilla buttercream frosting and then started using the fondant.
For the buttercream, I used a recipe I found online. It was rich but not overly sweet.
I opted for white fondant by Chef Duff (of Food Network TV fame). I think it had much of a taste but it was super easy to work with, especially since I hand-rolled it. For the black parts, I used a tube of black decorating icing which I painted on to the eye, nose and mouth details. For the cake, I just did a simple chocolate cake in my angel food cake pan.
Again, it’s silly but it didn’t turn out as badly as it could have. I think my husband liked it. He was at least very surprised. George, meanwhile, was a bit more skeptical of his new lookalike.
