How To Bake A Nikon Cake

A few weeks ago the blog has taken a small detour to the baking realm with camera shaped cookies. I thought that cookies were not big enough in some cases so here we go with a guide to bake a Nikon cake.

I must say that making this Nikon cake was not trivial, but it was not as hard as I expected and seems like everyone with a bit of baking skills can pull this off.

Please note the cake is of an un-named model (D4, maybe?). Names will be happily accepted in the comments.

Ingredients

For Cake:

1 cup tap water
200g Margarine
1 cup canola oil
1.5 cups sugar
100g dark chocolate
2 spoons cocoa powder
2 table spoons rum extract
4 separated eggs (yolks / whites)
2 cups flour
3 tables spoons baking powder
Lil bit of salt

For Decorations

1 kg white Fondant (you can buy readymade, or make some yourself)
Food coloring gels – you would need at least Red, Yellow and Black
Silver Coloring
Powdered Sugar
Royal Icing

Tools

Roller
Knife
Fondant tools
20cm X 28cm backing pan (with cake :) see below)

Step 1 – Bake The Cake

You could probably use any sponge cake, I love this recipe because it is pretty firm and still tastes good. It’s important to use a recipe that does not crumble. (and this one is as firm as a Nikon camera)

1. in a small pot warm and mix water, margarine, oil, sugar, dark chocolate and cocoa powder.

2. Let the mixture cool down to room temperature and add yolks (one at a time) and rum extract. (you have to wait till it cool a bit, otherwise the eggs turn to omelet). Mix well.

3. Take about 3/4 cup of the mixture and put it aside, we are going to use it as glue for piecing the cake together.

4. Add flour and backing power, and mix again.

5. Whip the whites with a touch of salt and “fold” into the dark mixture

Step 2 – Prepare The Camera Pieces

This is where we cut the cake to a few solid pieces. Each piece will be part of the finished camera. It is important to be as precise as you can on this one, as the fondant will wrap around the curves of the cake. Clean cake = Smooth camera; Shabby Cake = I really have to hold myself so this will not turn to a camera brand flame war. So, make sure you use a sharp knife.

The big chunk on the left is the camera body

The two circles on the top will form the lens

Just below the lens you see the grip, and below that, a piece that will later be converted into a prism.

Don’t throw away the scraps, they will be used to make some of the small elements of the camera.

Step 3 – Glue

Carefully place the pieces until you build the camera.

(1) Start with the body. (2) Attach the prism at the back. (3) Then put the lens plate on top of the body (we made if with some of the scrap cake). (4) Add the grip. (5) And finally add the lens. The first part is a full height circle and the second part is only half as tall.

Now un-assemble and redo, but this time use the left overs from the chocolate mixture as glue. Be generous with the glue.

Once done, take a sharp knife and smooth and wound any harsh corners.

Yes, I know, the lens is not there yet. We’ll get to it.

Step 4 – Prepare The Sugar

We are going to use fondant to cover the cake. While it is possible to get fondant in all kinds of colors, we got 1 kilo of white and colored as needed.

It is almost impossible to make black fondant, we made ours gray by dipping some black gel into the fondant and kneading it over and over. The end black finish will be achieved via coloring.

Roll a leaf of gray fondant and get ready to..

Step 5 – Wrap The Cake

Carefully pick up the fondant leaf and wrap it over the cake. Tuck it well all around.

Paint it all black.

Step 6 – Mount The Lens

The lens body is built in a similar way to the camera body. Stack the two circles one on top of another using chocolate glue.

Now cover the lens in glue and wrap it with fondant.

Make a small hole in the fondant and make a circular incision at the edge.

Prepare a small cupola. This cupola will act as the glass in the lens.

Paint the lens black, place the cupola and paint it with the silver coloring.

Flat out a long stretch of fondant and cress it. We will use it for the lens grip.

Wrap the grip around the lens and paint black.

Step 7 – Add Details

Use the fondant to add all the small details: Shutter release, hot shoe, thumb roller, Nikon red, flash assist, top LCD, selection wheel and any other detail you think would make your camera operate better.