Haunted Hedge Maze Cake

This was an entry into a contest called Threadcakes. This cake took me a total of about 7-8 hours to do in stages.

It was particularly difficult for me to figure out what the maze really looked like since there is only the one view from one particular angle on the shirt. I tried several different techniques and even tried contacting the artist to find out what his inspiration hedge maze was, but received no reply. In the end a combination of Inkscape and old fashioned graph paper and pencil prevailed.

I used 2 butter cake mixes that I tinted green. I knew that I was going to carve out the maze so I baked it one day and the next began the maze prep.

I began cutting the paper pattern for the maze out with a regular pair of scissors, removing what would be the inside of the maze. I then realized I was going to have to leave certain pieces connected in order to ensure the maze stays properly proportioned the way I had it on paper.

Once the pattern was finished I pinned it to the top of the cake and began using a hem gauge to outline and remove the cake from the inside of the maze. I thought about leaving it without any icing once I had it carved out. However, what's a cake without icing?! So I decided to apply butter cream icing to the top of the cake, making sure none was actually inside the maze itself. My husband then reminded me that I needed to add texture to the icing, as it is meant to look like hedges after all. So I spent some time with a toothpick and roughened up the icing I worked so hard to smooth.

Pac-man and the ghosts were made using a technique I found on a website that I follow (www.snackordie.com), called cake balls. It is crumbled cake and icing mixed together and then cooled. Once cooled they were covered in melting candy that I had tinted the appropriate colors. They then had to return to their cooling chamber, AKA the fridge. After removing them from cooling in their little candy coatings I had to carve away the extra and smooth it out a bit.

Once they were done I added them to their places using the picture as a guide. That's when I added the eyes on Pinky and Inky to make sure they were looking the right way for their final photo shoot.

Toothpicks were definitely used a lot in this cake, but strictly for adding icing, sculpting, and carving. This cake, I am happy to say, is 100% edible without any support structures, and was even nice and moist.
I just hope that I did the artist justice in turning it into a cake. I hope you all enjoy seeing it as much as I did making it!

After playing with Picasa I also figured out how to do a video, so here it is as well. Enjoy! :)