Les Miserables Cake

This was a Les Miserables surprise cake made for my dad for his 43rd birthday. To see more of our work, please like our Facebook page, (Newton's Cakes) via this link or the link at the side .

The figures were very time consuming and from took three weeks to make. The planks of wood were all made from fondant, which we mixed with Tylo powder and left in a cake box to set hard. We then used two 10" square cakes to make the main cake, before sticking the planks and painting red food colouring on the planks. The flags at the back were cut out of paper. I did look at real flags, however it would be hard to make them stand and they were also too large.

The main two figures, were the Thenardiers. I started by making Monsieur Thenardier as it was the easiest character, due to the distinctive colour of his beard and his costume, which is easily recognised.  My mam and dad had seen the show in London and told me that the characters came through a trap door throughout the show. I then decided to cut a square out of the board and place black icing in it's place, to make a trap door.

The hardest figures to make were Javert and Jean Val jean. I originally wanted to make Javert with a black coat, however decided that the model would look best in the blue uniform. I made the main body and head, added the facial features and added the hair. I then covered the neck in black, before covering the body in blue fondant and cutting a piece to fit over the top of the blue jacket.

Jean Valjean's costume was quite easy to make. However the hair was not the best as I made it quite thick. If I made this figure again, I would roll the fondant very thin and cut out thin strips, building the hair in layers.

My original idea was to make all of the cast, making Cosette and the other characters when they were older. Despite my plans, I only realised how time consuming the figures were the day before my dads birthday. I then decided to save time I would focus on improving the characters I had and making Cosette as a child. I then covered the cake, added the planks and assembled the characters onto the cake.I then added the flags and the logo and the cake came together.