Folks:

Some real expertise out here I thought I'd try to tap. I'm trying to
make a cake in the shape of the earth. Past attempts have involved me
pouring both halves of the batter into hemispheric glass pyrex bowls
and then cutting off the rounded tops and connecting the two halves
into a (well, obloid) sphere. Then I frost with blue for the ocean and
paint on green for land (plus white for clouds etc)

Fun! But problem: the cake's consistency. I need some more toughness,
i think, because the bottom half can get smooshed. Or it can fall
apart. Any suggestions? I've been using betty crocker cake mix (don't
hate me!)

Thanks, Eli

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:45:22 -0700 (PDT), eli kintisch
> wrote:

>Folks:
>
>Some real expertise out here I thought I'd try to tap. I'm trying to
>make a cake in the shape of the earth. Past attempts have involved me
>pouring both halves of the batter into hemispheric glass pyrex bowls
>and then cutting off the rounded tops and connecting the two halves
>into a (well, obloid) sphere. Then I frost with blue for the ocean and
>paint on green for land (plus white for clouds etc)
>
>Fun! But problem: the cake's consistency. I need some more toughness,
>i think, because the bottom half can get smooshed. Or it can fall
>apart. Any suggestions? I've been using betty crocker cake mix (don't
>hate me!)
>
>Thanks, Eli


You need to use support between the hemispheres, such as one would
between layers of a wedding cake. There are many websites that
describe this.

You have the additional problem of wanting your shape spherical. you
may want to place the sphere on a cake layer to be able to build the
foundation of your support.

And yes, cake mixes do make for very soft cake, which can make
supporting it a tad more tricky.

Boron

On Apr 11, 6:45*am, eli kintisch > wrote:
> Folks:
>
> Some real expertise out here I thought I'd try to tap. I'm trying to
> make a cake in the shape of the earth. Past attempts have involved me
> pouring both halves of the batter into hemispheric glass pyrex bowls
> and then cutting off the rounded tops and connecting the two halves
> into a (well, obloid) sphere. Then I frost with blue for the ocean and
> paint on green for land (plus white for clouds etc)
>
> Fun! But problem: the cake's consistency. I need some more toughness,
> i think, because the bottom half can get smooshed. Or it can fall
> apart. Any suggestions? I've been using betty crocker cake mix (don't
> hate me!)
>
> Thanks, Eli

I know this is a little late, but try a pound cake or something
denser...

I maybe stepping out of line, being new here. But what about the baseball mold Wilton has. Its about the size of a want to say a regular baseball , so that may be a problem. Comes with a stand if I am not mistaken. I'd looked into getting one for a totally different cake mission.

After you decide what size sphere you want, bake several sheets of sponge, glue them together using frosting into a cube. Use a serrated knife to carve the cube into one hemisphere. Repeat.