Halloween Leg Cake

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16lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake
Simple Syrup
Italian Meringue Buttercream
Wilton Red No Taste Icing Color
Wilton Color Right Base Crimson
4lbs White Fondant
Wilton Ivory Icing Color
Wilton Buttercup Yellow Icing Color
Wilton Moss Green Icing Color
Icing Sugar (for dusting)
Clear Food Grade Alcohol
Seedless Raspberry Jam
Wilton Burgundy Icing Color
CMC
Clear Piping Gel
Wilton Color Right Base Brown

Item Name:	Availability:
9” x 13” Rectangle Cake Pan
2 x 11” x 15” Rectangle Cake Pan
Ruler
Serrated Knife
Small Serrated Knife
Small Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Paring Knife
Sculpting Tools
Small Fondant Rolling Pin	Add to Cart -
Non Stick Rolling Board
Round Cutter Set	Add to Cart - $24.99
Paint Brushes
Parchment Paper
Ruler
Strip Cutter No.1

Bake Your Cakes

Prepare your Ultimate Vanilla Cake batter, dividing 6lbs into each of the 11” x 15” pans, and the remaining 4lbs into the 9” x 13” pan. Bake the 11” x 15” pans for 1 hour and 10 minutes at 350º, and the 9” x 13” pan for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely in their pans.

Prepare Your Simple Syrup & Buttercream

Before you begin to decorate, ensure that both your simple syrup and your Italian meringue buttercream are ready to go.

Level Cakes & Remove Caramelization

Remove your cakes from their pans and level with a ruler and serrated knife. Trim the caramelization from both the bottom and the sides. Cut each cake into two slabs to create two smaller rectangles.

Carve Into A 2D Leg Shape

Stack the larger cakes one on top of the other, and then line up the two stacks lengthwise. Carve into the shape of a two dimensional leg, and reserve excess cake you carve away. Use these pieces along with one of the rectangles from the 9” x 11” cake to create another layer on top of the cake, playing with them to bulk up the top.

Stack & Fill

Once you can visualize the shape of the leg, pull all of your cakes apart, and simple syrup each layer. Then fill the cakes with a layer of buttercream, and stack the cakes back into your shape. Chill your cake to get the buttercream nice and firm. You should still have one half of your 9” x 13” cake untouched.

Carve Into A 3D Leg Shape

Once chilled, start to carve into more of a three dimensional leg shape. Make sure there’s an extra curve around the knee, create a taper down to the ankle, all while ensuring that it remains rounded. Today would be a good day to wear shorts in the kitchen - I must’ve looked down to check out my own leg a bazillion times!

Carve A Foot

Using your final slab of cake, carve a two dimensional foot shape into your cake. Use more cake scraps to build up the fleshy part where your foot merges with your ankle. Once happy with the shape, add to the leg with a little bit of buttercream. After attaching to your leg, make any more carving adjustments. Remember to carve under the foot so that there’s a natural arch.

Bloody Buttercream!

Fold Wilton No Taste Red into your buttercream, adding a little bit of Wilton Color Right Base Crimson to darken the colour. This colour doesn’t necessarily need to be lifelike, but it will be visible once you tear the fleshy fondant away from your cake.

Crumb Coat & Chill

Crumb coat the entire leg and foot with a small offset spatula and your blood red buttercream. Move to fridge to allow buttercream to chill and set.

Ice With Bloody Buttercream

Remove your cake from the fridge, and ice it one final time. Return to fridge for one last chill. Once chilled, smooth out any ridges in the buttercream if needed.

Roll Fondant

Gently colour your fondant with Wilton Ivory, Buttercup Yellow, and Moss Green Icing Colors to achieve a fleshy tone. Only use trace amounts to slowly build up the colour. Measure your leg from the top to the ankle. Roll out your fondant to ⅛ of an inch thick, and drape it over your leg. Let it fall where it may, without being too worried about the edges.

Trim & Rip

Trim away excess with a sharp paring knife, stopping short of the top of the leg. Once youreach the top, rip the excess fondant with your hands. We want this leg to look as if it had been torn from the body.

Cover The Foot

Roll out a smaller slab of fondant to cover the foot. Trim the fondant wherever it meets the natural seams of the leg fondant. Make sure to cover the toe area even though there aren’t any toes yet.

Massage In Texture

To add musculature to the leg, use your fingertips to massage the fondant into form. I accentuated the calf muscle with my fingers and the side of my palm. You want the cake to accept these grooves, so you don’t want it super firm. Continue to shape knee dimples, straighten shin bones, an ankle ball bone, and the veins that are visible where your leg meets your foot. Keep looking down at your leg!...or ask a friend to model.

Time For Toes!

Add some CMC to your leftover fondant and form into toes. Create the nail beds in the toes by pressing down with your own fingers and thumbs, refining with sculpting tools. Add small pieces of flesh fondant into the nail beds to round them out if necessary. Roll out a piece of gum paste really thin, and use your smallest circle cutter (1”) and a knife to form them into the right size. You’ll want to make some of them jagged and torn.

Add The Toes

Press one 4” lollipop stick into each toe, and insert into foot. Roll a tube of fondant and place along the base of the toes and blend the seam in with a wet paint brush.

Create Gashes

Poke open a gash on the foot with a medical tool, as well as along the knee. Get creative with your slashes. I went back and added a gash to the shin. Take that extra fondant and roll it out to an ⅛ inch thick, and then tear apart in strips. Add this torn fondant to the exposed top of the leg. Spiral it and twist it in, filling the entire cavity.

Deepen The Colour

Dilute a bit of Wilton Ivory with clear food grade alcohol, and paint over the surface of the entire cake. For the nails, use a bit of Wilton Buttercup Yellow diluted with alcohol.

Making Maggots

Take your final bits of flesh coloured fondant and roll into a tube. Measure to equal increments and cut into pieces. Roll each tiny piece into a maggot shape, and roll over your strip cutter. Once all maggots are made, mix Wilton Buttercup Yellow and Wilton Colour Right Brown into a bit of clear piping gel and dilute with alcohol. Toss them in a bowl to cover in colour rather than painting individually. Take them all out of the bowl and allow them to dry separately.

Bloody Details

Mix all three red colours with seedless raspberry jam, just until it looks bloody. Use a paintbrush to add to your wounds. To disguise the seam where my foot fondant met my leg fondant, I piped a bit of blood into the seam and allowed it to drip down the heel. Use this step as an opportunity to hide any other imperfections with gore.

Final Touches

Add the maggots to all of the wounds. Curl some up so that they’re all piled in there. The piping gel and jam should still be sticky enough to add them without another adhesive. Now dig in!