I love making this cake! I have made one just like this before for another teacher retiring. I didn’t make it exactly the same as the last one, I had to change the design up just a bit but a few elements definitely needed to stay. Book cakes are fun to make and work for a variety of occasions. Here’s one to celebrate a graduation and another to celebrate a big birthday!
I had to include the edible lined paper cake topper. I cut these pieces out of thinned out gum paste. I cut them into two different sizes and added holes down one side using a round piping tip. I cut the bottoms of the pages at an angle so they would look staggered on top of the cake instead of straight across. I used a blue and red edible marker and a ruler to make the lines on the page. I made some pink rubber erasers out of pink fondant that I molded by hand. The pencils were made in advance so they would be firm enough to pop out of the cake. I know that pencils wouldn’t actually be sticking out of books, but I love how this looks! It gives great height and dimension.
The middle book cake is my favorite one because I sponge painted it to look like a black and white marble notebook. Remember those?! So classic. I also included some chalk and an eraser. The chalk was made by rolling some fondant or gum paste in a long even rope and cutting it in different lengths to give some interest. The eraser is made from black fondant that I shaped by hand. I used a corn starch duster to tap some corn starch onto the eraser to look just like chalk dust.
The cake board brings the whole cake together. I used some black royal icing and spread it all over the cake board. I used a thicker consistency royal icing for some additional texture. I used white gel food coloring and a food-safe paintbrush to paint on the message. The additional chalk dust was dusted on with more corn starch.
