Shirt And Tie Cake

Since I didn't feature a proper Father's Day cake yesterday, I decided I would share the one I made my for my father and my grandfather last year with you. It is a shirt and tie cake. My mother suggested the idea, which is actually a pretty popular idea, especially for Father's Day. The majority of shirt and tie cakes I found pictures of on the internet are made using fondant. A piece of fondant is draped over a cake (usually a rectangular cake, but I have seen some round ones too), then other colors of fondant are used to make a tie. Many of the ties feature either stripes or polka dots. The tie is placed on the shirt, and a pocket is crafted as well. Piped lettering and borders are added to some, some others are kept plain. I even saw this idea in my new Cake Boss book, but only after I had already made my version.
For my cake, I used classic buttercream, as usual. I have only used fondant once before, and I find buttercream much easier and more fun to work with and tastier than fondant. I iced my signature chocolate cake in a 9x13 inch rectangular pan, and iced it with white buttercream, Then I outlined a tie, using an open star tip, and alternating lines of red and blue buttercream. I liked the idea of using a star cake, which is often seen on other design cakes, such as animals and characters. It fills in the shapes just as well, and is less difficult then piping plain lines of icing. It also looks quite neat, I think. I piped in a pocket, collar, and added a rope border alternating red and blue icing around the edge for a little more decoration. I piped "Happy Father's Day" on the piece of foil above the cake. This cake was actually pretty quick, simple, and fun to make!