If you have an outdoorsman or outdoorswoman in your life, this hunting and fishing-themed cake will be a huge hit. Today I provide a tutorial that teaches how to make a nature-themed cake that focuses on outdoor activities.
Want another fun fishing cake? Check out this custom cake.
Hunting and Fishing-themed Cake
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Whether you are a novice cake maker, a hobbyist (like me) or a professional, I hope you are inspired by this outdoorsy cake. Hopefully, my cake-decorating tricks, tips, and tutorials help you in your cake-making pursuits.
What size cakes and what cake recipes did I use to make this nature-themed cake?
For this cake, I used an 8″ and 10″ white velvet cake. The smaller 8″ tier had a lemon curd filling and a lemon buttercream frosting. The 10″ tier used a chocolate frosting (haven’t shared that recipe yet…note to self) and a salted caramel filling.
The design of this cake ended up different than I anticipated. I had imagined more of a distinction between the top and the bottom tier based on the size differential. I hadn’t calculated the increased width added to the top tier because of the layers of fondant I used to create the design. The bottom tier did not have fondant.
I liked the way it turned out, but there wasn’t as much room for the trees. If you want the top and the bottom to have a bit more distinction, I would recommend the bottom tier being 12″ instead.
How to Make a Log Cake with Chocolate Bark
This log cake is so much easier than it might originally appear, so stick with me. I will provide a TikTok tutorial for creating the bark. If you aren’t following me on TikTok yet, please do. Here’s a link to my profile.
Looking for this rustic wood cake stand? I’m so sorry that I don’t remember where I picked it up, but I did find a similar concept on Amazon. On a side note, if you are doing cupcakes alongside your cake, here’s a fun rustic wood cupcake stand.
The first step is to bake and frost your cake. For all of my cake-baking tips, read here.
- To make the chocolate bark, melt candy melts according to package directions. I have done a blind taste test between Wilton and Ghiradelli candy melts, and Ghiradelli is by far superior.
- Once melted, spread a layer of the melted chocolate over parchment paper. You want to cover the parchment so there is no parchment paper showing through. You will have a two inch border on all sides.
- Next, roll the parchment paper up the long way, and stick your parchment roll in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. I made three of these rolls to cover the cake, and I did have extra pieces to nibble on.
- To keep your counters clean, unroll your chocolate pieces onto another piece of parchment, a jelly roll pan, or a silicone baking mat. Now you have several slightly rolled chocolate shards.
- Break the shards to the height of your cake, and place them on the edge of the cake with the curved side of the chocolate touching the cake.
- Finally, melt some more candy melts and, using a clean cake decorating brush, apply a chocolate layer all around the edges to create thickness and texture. This is a dabbing process.
- If doing just the log cake, you can use a toothpick to swirl the log rings into the cake.
How to Make Fondant Fishing Lures for a Cake
To make these fishing lures, I used a fish mold purchased at Michael’s. If you are wanting a more accurate lure, I found this option there also, but it was more expensive.
Cover the crevices of your silicone mold with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Press fondant into your mold. Carefully, pop the fish out of the mold. You can let your fish set a bit by leaving them in the mold for a couple hours. That said, if they set too long they will crack if you try and reshape them.
I cut the tail off to make these fish look more like bait. I also put most of them upside down to create the bump at the bottom.
Use clean cake decorating brushes or paint brushes to paint the fishing lures. Look at examples online by doing an image search for fishing lures. I am sorry I didn’t take a better picture of mine.
How do you paint fondant? To paint fondant, I use edible luster dust and vodka. Yes, you heard me right…vodka. Add a little vodka do a dish. Make a small pile of luster dust in the colors you want. Make a small paste of vodka and luster dust. You don’t want it too thick. Practice with different consistencies before doing your final attempt. I learned this trick years ago at a cake shop in Seattle, but here’s a YouTube tutorial that provides advice for painting cakes.
After you have the main colors on the fish in place, and they have dried, you can brush on some luster dust to create added texture and depth.
For the eyes and other parts of the design, I use edible markers.
Finally, I added real fish hooks on the back and bottom of the lure. You will want to make sure that whoever eats your cake is aware of this non-edible item.
How to Decorate a Fondant Covered Nature Cake
To decorate the tier of this cake, you will need white fondant (about 40 oz for this cake), and food coloring in black, yellow, green, olive green, blue, and turquoise.
Cover your tier in white fondant. My best tips for covering a cake in fondant can be found here.
Color your fondant in grey-green, pale green, grey-blue, green, and turquoise. To make grey, use some black and yellow. Mix colors together to get the tones you want for for the landscape and trees.
Cover your work surface with powdered sugar to prevent sticking. Roll out your grey-green fondant to 1/16″. I like the ease of using a small fondant rolling pin with rings so as to get an even layer when rolling the fondant out. Use a ruler to make a straight edge, and use a pizza cutter to cut a straight line to create the base of your mountains. Cut your tall mountains out of this color.
Repeat the process making smaller pale-green mountains, and even smaller blue-green mountains, and then some turquoise waters. These mountain pieces will be layered around the cake.
How do you Make Fondant Trees?
To make fondant trees, color your fondant green. Next, roll your fondant into a cone shape. Finally, snip little pieces of fondant all around the tree. Since only half of these are seen, you only have to snip a bit more than half of the cone. If they go on top of a cake or cupcake, you’d want to snip all the way around the cone. The “branches” naturally fold outward when you snip. Allow these to dry slightly before inserting a toothpick into the base. I angled the toothpick out of the back slightly so I could slide the toothpick into the cake at an angle for added stability.
Insert these trees after the cake is stacked.
Assemble the Cake
To create cake structure, I use wide boba/smoothie straws as my dowels. They are easier to cut than wooden dowels. Simply insert the straws into the cake to find the proper height and snip them accordingly. I used 5 for this size of a cake.
Add the top tier, centered, on top of the bottom tier. Insert trees, and place your fishing lures around the base.
Where does the hunting element come in? This cake was for a bow hunter. I tried to make an arrow on a wood dowel, but I couldn’t get the feathers in place, so I had to abandon the idea. My goal was to have the arrow go through the top tier of the cake. Alternatively, I was going to just use a real arrow, but I was working last minute, and I didn’t find an aesthically pleasing one at the only sporting goods store I had time to visit.
Funny story: I know nothing about hunting and didn’t bother asking what he hunted. I made shotgun shells that I was originally going to use to decorate this cake. I also ordered this cake topper with deer antlers. My husband looked at my work and said, “What does he hunt? You don’t shoot deer with a shotgun.” I guess asking questions is always a good route when designing a custom cake for someone. Turns out he hunts elk with a bow, so I definitely had to pivot.
With my arrow fail, I ended up incorporating the arrow into the cake topper I made on the Cricut using faux wood veneer.
Want More Fun Cake Decorating Ideas?
See all of my cakes under my cake tab. Here are a few for inspiration:
