boom box cake

After D's puppy party, it was time for his sweet big sister to celebrate turning 8. They had a dance party, and her mom requested a cake that looks like a boom box. Of course, I immediately pictured the behemoth, black plastic and chrome, double-tape deck/AM-FM radio combo my friends and I used to drag to Seal Beach on the #42 bus. It ate DD batteries like they were going out of style, but we felt so cool listening to music as we lay out, competing for who could get the most tan (back when SPF 2 and Sun-In were still a thing).

I couldn't see making a black fondant cake for a little girl, especially when her mom said the party's theme colors were hot pink and turquoise. And I assumed she'd have no idea what a cassette tape was. So I decided to use the look of an old-school boom box combined with an updated iPod/iPhone dock that would look more common to a kid in 2014.


I thought the white iPod would stand out against the turquoise boom box. I limited the number of (fake) apps and used super-simple symbols to get the idea across. My kids recognized every one, so I knew I was in good shape. The iPod itself is actually cardboard covered with fondant, but everything else is edible. I used a skinny knife to make hash marks across the black speakers to resemble the mesh that covers the speakers. (Love that texture!) I kept the control buttons simple and recognizable as well. They are colored with an edible marker on white fondant.

That's exactly the type of antenna my boom box used to have - it pivoted and telescoped, but lay, clicked in, across the top of the box when not in use. And mine had a handle like this, too, for easy transporting to the beach and beyond.

The cake itself is made from a couple of 9x13 layers of chocolate cake. I cut the cakes in half the long way and stacked three of them up to get the right height. Inside, it was frosted with chocolate buttermilk frosting. It's helpful to stack the cakes and frost them (lightly on the outside) and then let them sit for a couple of hours to make sure they settle completely. Otherwise, you can end up with fondant that buckles if the cake settles afterward.

The cake was a perfect fit for the dance party. Rather than Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, I'm sure they were dancing to 1D and KidzBop, and I'm sure they had a blast!

Print chocolate cake recipe.
Print chocolate buttermilk frosting recipe.

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