Week #10 – I Think This Makes Me a Groupie

March 5, 2012 4:32 pm Published by

I’m constantly looking for inspiration for new cakes.  A few months ago a friend of mine got tickets to see my friend (and incredible singer/songwriter) Matt Nathanson play in Charlottesville, VA at a small theatre.  Matt has gotten pretty big and it’s hard to see him play in small clubs anymore (last time I saw him play was opening for Kelly Clarkson at Radio City Music Hall). Anyway I said yes not fully realizing it was in the middle of the week.  But I made my plans and decided, why not make a cake for Matt!

I decided to go with a design from one of his t-shirts. It’s a sign for an old motel with his name and the name of his new album as the signs. Pretty neat huh? This was also the perfect opportunity to test out my brand new airbrush!

The cake came out pretty well although the “navy” of the airbrushing dried black.  Now I know for next time to use more blue, less black. The green for the sign came out more yellow but I love the gritty texture that came through.  I used my bead mold that I used on the pearl cake to make the lights on the sign – removing some of them to make it look like they were burned out.

The writing (again) was hard for me. I really need to spend some time practicing making royal icing and piping letters. But the design on the shirt it a bit messy so I think it kind of worked out.

I’m happy with the cake, which is vanilla butter cake and mocha buttercream.  The sign is made out of gumpaste, wooden dowels and floral tape. I made the rays out of the ball from colored sprinkles.

So here’s the story of getting the cake from NYC to Matt in Charlottesville. I packed up the cake in Brooklyn, took it to work and then took it on a train to DC. I stayed with my folks in DC and then drove down to Charlottesville for the concert.  Not wanting to hold the cake through the concert, I left it in the car.

After the show I asked the merch guy what he thought I could do with the cake.  He suggested I go to the back of the theatre and wait for Matt by his bus (me = groupie).  Keep in mind, I did text Matt to let him know I was bringing this cake but I never got a response.  So I’m standing in the cold with about 25 teenaged girls and their moms, holding this cake which is melting from the wetness outside.  After about 30 minutes I decided I wasn’t going to actually see Matt so I gave it to a roady and texted Matt that I left.  In the morning when I got back to DC I got this text from Matt:

So I’m glad he got the cake. I also slipped my new CD into the cake box (hence the new songs reference).

I can’t wait to use the airbrush again for future projects. I also don’t think I’ll be waiting outside of theatres for rockstars holding cake any time soon.

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This post was written by marissa

2 Comments

  • CoSkay says:

    Whoa! I had no idea you knew Matt Nathanson….I’ve been listening to him for YEARS!!!!

    PS – Love all the posts…I have to make a wedding cake for a friend in August…so do you have a good ginger spice cake and/or cream cheese frosting recipe? 🙂

    • marissa says:

      I don’t have a specific recipe that I’ve made (although happy to try that out) but I’ve had really good experiences with all Martha Stewart recipes. I’m sure she has one on her site.