What would Duff do? (cake decoration, flamingos)

July 26, 2008 7:30 PM

Cake Decoration filter: What should the legs of my (rice krispy) flock of flamingos be made of?

After watching a lot of Ace of Cakes, my mom and I have decided to make a fancy-schmancy cake. We've figured everything out except for the distinctive flamingo legs on the flock of flamingos that will be wandering across the surface. We haven't loved any of the ideas we've come up with so far (have them all swimming; use lollypop blank sticks; use pipe cleaners). Any good flamingoesque solution will do, but bonus points for an edible leg structure.

The bodies of the 'mingos will probably be 3 to 5 inches high from belly to raised head and will be molded from rice krispies and covered with icing, although I'll totally fudge that measurement to suit the legs.

posted by julen to food & drink (22 comments total)

biscotti?
posted by heathergirl at 7:38 PM on July 26, 2008

How about candy sticks. Completely edible and guaranteed to crack a tooth.
posted by munchingzombie at 7:40 PM on July 26, 2008

Well... A 50% edible solution might be to use Twizzlers or some other type of licorice, with small metal rods/wire in the middle. It'd be easy to remove the rods/wire for consumption, but could possible be pretty sturdy?
posted by Ms. Saint at 7:44 PM on July 26, 2008

Pocky.
posted by fish tick at 7:48 PM on July 26, 2008 [6 favorites]

Mashed pink Peeps, molded like clay around the lollypop sticks.
posted by sageleaf at 7:57 PM on July 26, 2008

Pocky's a great idea because of the thinness. Also, pretzel sticks or bread sticks covered with fondant. Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes too.

Please update with pics if you do make these.
posted by iconomy at 8:03 PM on July 26, 2008

I vote Pocky.
posted by konolia at 8:19 PM on July 26, 2008

If you've got a candy thermometer and patience, you might be able to make hard candy legs.
posted by stefanie at 8:21 PM on July 26, 2008

Pocky is great, although you can't bend them like real flamingo legs . . . but the relative thinness is cool, and if you get the chocolate covered ones, the color's pretty close. (I think of flamingos as having blackish legs, but I could be wrong.) I loved Pocky when I visited Japan, and just last week I found it (for the first time) in my local grocery store, so it shouldn't be too hard to find any longer.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 8:23 PM on July 26, 2008

This might give you some helpful ideas about how different types of Pocky would look. You could definitely use this tutorial to make a bent flamingo leg, as a bonus!
posted by adiabat at 9:08 PM on July 26, 2008

raw spaghetti. doubled up for each leg if necessary.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 9:36 PM on July 26, 2008

Flamingo legs are kind of light pink. Strawberry pocky would be the right color, rather than chocolate.
posted by Cricket at 12:54 AM on July 27, 2008

What about licorice lace? I pictured black but you could also do red. Plus they bend. Like this. Couldn't find a black licorice example, but they exist!
posted by heavenstobetsy at 4:15 AM on July 27, 2008

Strawberry pocky, and for the joints - melt some white chocolate, add a little bit of red frosting color to get the pink shade and use it as "glue" to mold the pocky into the correct shape. Make a day or so ahead of time and freeze them for stability.
posted by FritoKAL at 7:14 AM on July 27, 2008

Hershey's Chocolate Sticks

Non-edible solution - lollipop sticks
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:40 AM on July 27, 2008

You can even find strawberry pocky where the coating is pink, saving you the effort of dyeing them.
posted by ErWenn at 12:22 PM on July 27, 2008

Well... A 50% edible solution might be to use Twizzlers or some other type of licorice, with small metal rods/wire in the middle. It'd be easy to remove the rods/wire for consumption, but could possible be pretty sturdy?
posted by Ms. Saint at 10:44 PM on July 26 [+] [!]


Over the 3-5" described, Twizzlers wouldn't need any support... but they would probably look a bit thick.

Heh. Getting an image of flamingos in leg warmers.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:14 PM on July 27, 2008

OK, these are awesome suggestions! We're going to try to find some pocky, with a back-up plan of licorice sticks (shaved down), with lollypop blank stems to provide inner support. Of course, we're going to hit the candy specialty shop later this week, so who knows what else we'll find.

We're making the cake next Wednesday/Thursday (10 days, not 3), and I'll definitely provide pictorial follow-ups that weekend.
posted by julen at 3:30 PM on July 27, 2008

If you live near a city that has a Chinese grocery store, that would be your best bet for Pocky location.
posted by fish tick at 4:58 PM on July 27, 2008

Check Wilton for all things candy-making related.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:41 PM on July 27, 2008

You probably not going to get something that is both edible and capable of supporting the structure, while still looking like flamingo legs. What would Duff do? Probably wooden dowels covered in gum paste. My suggestion? consider some raw sugar cane, and either gum paste or fondant to cover.
posted by Citrus at 8:15 AM on July 28, 2008

The cake was made, and it was both a hit and a garish affront for the eyes:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/julenesque/2747591186/

The pocky did great for holding up the flamingos. I also had some raspberry chocolate sticks and lollipop blank sticks on backup. The necks were really weak because they were thin and long and had no internal support. I compacted the rice krispies in that area and that helped, but I think I'd run them through the food processor first next time to get a more compact firm mold.

I tried several ways of gluing together the legs at a backwards angle, and they all broke (or disappeared), so I settled for just having the flamingos stalk around stiff-legged. Despite the fact that the Sauer food coloring colors were a lot brighter than I expected, the rice krispy treats turned my very red melted marshellows into anemic pink treats. I ended up spray food coloring (using a Wilton spray) the flamingos neon pink for impact.

The 8s were also made out of Krispy treats. We were originally going to cover the cake in fondant, but decided at the last minute that Fondant wasn't that tasty, so we ended up using buttercream for the frosting and rice krispy treats on top of that. It worked since my aunt loves the RKT. I also made 15 8s. The original 3 I made - before the cakes themselves - were too big, so I made a second batch of treats and made smaller 8s, as well as the figural 8 sculptures in the corner.

Thanks everyone!
posted by julen at 12:14 PM on August 9, 2008 [1 favorite]