Ann Reardon

3D Camera Cake

3d camera cake tutorial how to cook that

Panasonic invited me to an event in Sydney and requested that I bring along a camera cake that I was filming. I live in Melbourne – a hour and twenty minute flight away, so I forewarned them that the cake may not travel well. Walking through the airport carrying a cake was like doing a continuous weighted bicep curl. Cakes are heavy! The gate seemed to be so much further away than when towing a wheel suitcase. Once on board the cake had to be stowed in the overhead luggage compartment and while the main part of the flight was smooth, I was extremely nervous when we hit bad weather and couldn’t land. We spent and extra 30 minutes circling. Every time we turned I could see the ocean out of the opposite side window and then we would level out again. I was imagining the lens rolling off the cake and all sorts of problems. Watch the video to see what it looked like when I arrived.

 

To make this 3D Camera cake you will need:

Camera Cake Template:

 

2 1/4 x my rich chocolate cake recipe baked in three trays, my tray are 38cm (14.96 inches) x 25.4cm (10 inches)

Simple Syrup (mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water in a cup, heat in the microwave until melted then allow to cool)
A triple batch of my vanilla butter cream recipe or whatever flavour you prefer from that page

1.5kg (3.31 pounds) Black Fondant
700g (24.69 ounces) White Fondant to cover the board
tiny bit of red fondant for a button
white, red and green food colouring for painting on button details

Other:
Cake board (print the camera shape on the template and choose a board that it fits on nicely)
Cake support board (see shape on template)
Isomalt
tylose powder
very fine paintbrush

Make all the buttons and fondant details. These can be made ahead of time and left to dry out.

how to make a camera cake ann reardon

Bake the cakes and allow to cool completely. Then whip up some buttercream. Use the template to cut out the cake layers and stick them with simple syrup and buttercream in the order marked not he template.

Carve the camera shape details as shown in the video then cover the whole thing in buttercream, Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Stack the lens layers of cake and cover them in buttercream too, place in the fridge.

Cover the body of the camera in black fondant. Spray the fondant with cooking oil while you work to stop it drying out while you smooth it around the shape of the cake. Trim the edges to size. Square off any of the sharper corners by gently pinching the fondant along the edge.

Make the lens and viewfinder out of isomalt, you can melt the isomalt in a saucepan or in the microwave.

Once set push the viewfinder piece into some black fondant and build up black fondant around it into the shapes of the viewfinder.

Wrap the lens in black fondant, add a ring of black and then the isomalt lens. Continue to add the layers as shown in the video then wrap the lens hood around (note this piece should have 1/4 tsp tylose mixed in with it to make it dry quickly).

Make the corrugated bands to go around the lens by pushing an afro comb into the fondant, cut a strip and wrap it around.

Put the lens in place – I used a strip of fondant to hold it in place slightly ff the board but found that this was not quite strong enough to last the flight – the lens stayed in place but was flat not he board. So if you want it off the board you may need a strip of something harder like chocolate wrapped in fondant under the lens and a curved cake board sitting under the fondant and the bottom of the lens.

Continue to add fondant details to the camera as shown in the video.

When adding the viewfinder use a little water to make it stick and support it with something underneath while it dries.

Paint on the rest of the details using white food colouring.

camera cake template

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

21 Comments View Comments

  1. Rating: 5

    Can you please do a cowboy based cake, thanks. 😊😊

  2. Rating: 5

    Could you please do a cowboy based cake, thanks. 😊😊

  3. Rating: 5

    I know this is 2023 lol, but just had to write to you to let you know what a big help your tutorial from YouTube as well as the pattern that I purchased from you was! It turned out spectacular and the recipient could not have been more happy with it! Thank you! I have attached some pictures for you to see if you even still monitor this page that is! 🙂

  4. Rating: 5

    Can you please help me with the outlines of the camera which you did it on paper

  5. Rating: 5

    yay!

    • Absolutely fantastic Amal, I love the strap.

  6. Rating: 5

    Thank you for the template! I’ve always shied away from 3D cakes. So this is a new experience for me. Hope I did your tutorial justice. xx

    • You certainly did, it looks fantastic ?

  7. Rating: 5

    Hi Ann! This is the fourth cake that I’ve baked in my life (really inexperienced) and I really wanted to make something special for my best friend (who loves photography). Thank you so much for making such an amazing video and easy to follow tutorial. Couldn’t have done this without you!

    • wow, if this is the 4th cake you’ve ver made in your life then you have a natural gift for cake decorating / art /scultpure. Well done amazing job.

  8. Rating: 4.5

    Beautiful job, Ann, as always! You are a wonder. To me, delivering the cake can be harder than making it sometimes.

    I made/delivered a 60 serving highly detailed Nikon cake (all high end scratch cakes/icing/fondant) + 36 graduation hat cake pops for a new client & she was unhappy that I asked $200 for all, a discount introductory price for wealthy client I hoped to make long term customer.

    Can you create a lesson or guideline on pricing highly custom cakes such as these? Or perhaps some guideline on hours these require? I realize prices vary greatly from one area to another, but a lot of time & love go into
    this work & it’s often taken for granted. People often discount expect discount store pricing for high end products & it’s disheartening.

    • Hi Sharon, this is a common problem for cake artists. People want high quality cakes that taste great but don’t understand the cost of ingredients and the time required. I think it’s best to price on 3 days work for 3d cakes, one day for client consultation, planning, shopping etc, one day for baking, making fondant details that can be done ahead and making supports, then the last day for assembly and decorating. Work out your day rate and add to that the cost of the ingredients. (oh and add more time and petrol if you are delivering and they are not picking it up). It has to make good business sense, if you are just breaking even then there is no point you spending 3 days on it, you could get a job elsewhere and get paid. The only exception to that is if you have no portfolio – then doing it to break even helps you cover costs while you are prioritising getting quality photos of your work.

  9. Rating: 5

    Que perfecta e ingeniosa.

    • Gracias Francia!

  10. Rating: 5

    Beautiful!

  11. Rating: 5

    Canon EOS 7 D with a 70-200 lense. One of the first and most extreme 3D cake i made back in 2012

    • Wow, that is awesome! Great work on the carry belt as well.

  12. Rating: 5

    Ann, that is absolutely amazing. I am always so impressed by your attention to detail you are the best, If I want a quick ‘pick me up’ I always come to your channel as you are so inspirational. I have book marked your chocolate eclairs and each time I look at the little round choux buns – I tell myself one day I will make a Cromonbuche (sorry for bad spelling).
    Thanks Ann – you will never know how grateful I am for finding your website. Maybe one day I’ll email you with the details.
    Sending kind wishes you all your family and yourself of course. Pea x

    • Rating: 5

      Whoops I forgot to say the wishes are coming all the way from a raining day in England, near London.

    • That is lovely to hear Pea. Happy Baking!

  13. Rating: 5

    Wow!! so beautiful ?

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