Cowboy Boot Bridal Shower Cake

Country Bride

When I was making the crab feed dessert auction cake, someone came to my house to pick up the chickens they were going to smoke for the same crab feed. Well, they loved the cake I was working on and placed an order for a bridal shower cake later in the month. The bride loves country and the girls were throwing her a country bridal shower. I can’t say why I blurted out…”How about we go with a cowboy boot cake? We could put a floral design on the side to make it girlie!” They thought that was going to be great. Me too. Now to figure out how to do it!

country bride shower invitation floral design

Bridal shower invitation for the country bride.

I was told that the invitation had a floral design on it, so I asked for a copy of the invitation. When it came I was thrilled! The design was perfect for the the side of the boot. I scanned the invitation and drew a pattern,  I could then size and adjust it for my cake.

Cowboy boot floral design for boot

Pattern for the floral design on the side of the cowboy boot cake.

Now that I had the design made for on the side of the boot figured out, I had to plan the boot cake itself.

Bridal shower cowboy boot cake idea

My idea drawing of the bridal shower cowboy boot cake.

I was ready to put the plan that was in my head down in a drawing. It helps me in the planning of the size and figuring out how the shape of the boot would work.

I knew I would need a sturdy base for the boot itself. This is where my woodworking skills could come into play! I decided to make the heel and sole out of stacked plywood. That would look just like a boot heel. I started by laminating enough layers of plywood to create the height of the heel needed, along with the length of the boot. While the glue was drying I drew a pattern I would use to cut the rough profile of the boot sole. With some sanding I could contour the heel and toe. I sealed the wood with food-safe sealer (mineral oil) and the boot sole was finished.

Wooden sole for cowboy boot cake

Stacked plywood makes up a wooden heel and sole for the cowboy boot cake.

I wanted to add something to the boot so it wasn’t just a boot standing there. After thinking about it, I went with making some flowers that would stick out of the top of the boot. I had to choose a flower that would not compete too much with the pattern and colors on the boot. That pretty much left the color white and for some reason dogwood flowers popped in my head…perfect!

I made the dogwood blossoms and leaves out of gum paste and set them aside to dry. I used brown floral wire and tape to make the branches for the blossoms and put them all together after adding detail to the blossoms with petal dust.

The base board for the cake I covered in fondant and made it look like weathered wood. Previous to covering the board with fondant I placed the boot sole on it and pre-drilled holes so I could then later firmly attach the boot to the base.

silver-buckle-closeup

Detail of the belt buckle and weathered base board.

I did have another request for the cake I had to figure out. They wanted it to say something about a “Bootiful Bride”. I came up with the idea to make a silver belt buckle and write that and the date on it. That seemed to fit the theme and it was something along with the dogwood flowers the bride could keep indefinitely.

The cake itself was interesting to do. I read up on all I could find about stacking a tall cake. I had already baked and frozen a chocolate fudge sheet cake. I cut and stacked the cake onto the wooden sole when partially thawed. I had put a dowel into the heel of the boot to help hold the layers. After two layers were added, I placed a cardboard stabilizing layer and repeated the layers until  the boot was tall enough. I put it back in the refrigerator to cool so I could then shape the boot. I carved out the shape according to the drawing I had made and I finished up by crumb coating the whole thing and refrigerated it again until ready for the fondant.

cowboy-boot-floral

I took this design from the invitation and enlarged it to fit the boot.

The weather turned on me and my fondant wanted to stick to itself.  It made for a frustrated fondant application. So as usual some adjustments were made in putting the tan fondant on; mainly in an extra piece over the toe of the boot as I learned how to work with the sticky stuff. I “stitched” the pieces on the boot as I went. I also wanted some sagging like real boots tend to do, but was worried that the added weight of the floral pattern might be a problem. Fingers were crossed that the sagging wouldn’t go too far!

I colored the fondant and added the floral design to the side of the boot, referring to my drawing as I went. To make it look a little more like a stitched pattern I painted the flowers for texture. Then using a stitch tool I stitched around the pieces in the design.

dogwood-closeup

Dogwood branch detail in top of boot.

The top of the boot was covered in dark brown fondant with a straw inserted to hold the dogwood branches. I would wrap the branches carefully and the gals at the shower would have to set them in place once the cake got to the shower.

I glued some real rope around the base board to finish off the bottom. I wanted more color down below so I added a couple of blossoms to the board.

Hee-Haw…That’s a cake!

Cowboy Boot Bridal Shower Cake

Cowboy boot cake for a country loving bride.

 

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