Purse Cake Tutorial

In September, I posted a cake carving tutorial which continues to be a very popular blog post.  So, here is another step-by-step cake carving tutorial of a very popular cake design - a Louis Vuitton Purse.

This cake was for a bridal shower and was a replica of the bride-to-be's checkerboard LV purse with a matching wallet.

Step 1:  Prepare the cake for carving:  The cake was strawberry vanilla and chocolate sour cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.  I usually put the wrapped cake in the freezer prior to carving so that it is as solid as possible.  The cake is on a small fitted cakeboard and then on a turntable - ready for carving!

Step 2:  Carve Carefully:  I always post photos on my wall of the purse images in all different angles.  Make sure you have a sharp knife (I use a large bread knife and a smaller one for finer details) and I cover my work surface with the plastic wrap that my cakes were covered in.  Very easy clean up and you should always keep your work area and sinks as clean as possible. 

For this design, I started with the front angle of the cake, then moved to the side angle. I carved only small pieces off and then stood back regularly to look at the cake from every angle.  For this purse, I also added in some extra indentations as purses are never perfectly pouffy (is that a word?)

Step 3:  Cover the cake:  Clear away the cake shavings and clean your work surface.  I iced the cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream which I find the best and sturdiest for my carved (sculpted) cakes.

I added some additional white fondant to my chocolate fondant to get the proper LV brown.  

Once the fondant is fitted perfectly around the cake, I cut off the excess fondant with my scraper.  Some people use a pizza cutter, but I prefer the scraper.

Step 4:  Decorate! For this LV design, I had to find the perfect shade of gold.  I had to use a mixture of 3 lustre dusts, edible gold paint and some lemon extract.  This designed required perfect squares to be painted on the uneven surface.  I found some make-up sponges that I cut into a square and then I used it as a stamp.  Note: For the LV Logo purses, you have to freehand paint every logo.  I don't know of a stencil or any easier way to do it.

Once it was painted, then I moved the cake to the sturdy cakeboard.  It was covered in a pastel pink which I think makes the brown stand out more.  Then I added the rest of the decorations and it all came together.