The Tenure Clock (Cake!)

So let me answer the question that I'm sure is burning in all of your minds-- does Roxanne still make cakes??  The answer is sometimes. :)  I work full time and I'm passionate about my job, and I'm equally passionate about my health and life, so squeezing in a 2nd full time job is not really an option right now.  However, when the right opportunities come up, I take them.  And sometimes even the wrong opportunities-- as of now, I'm planning on making my own wedding cake.  I'll keep you posted on all of my bad decisions.

Anyway, a great opportunity came up recently-- my fiance was awarded tenure at Georgia Tech!  I was asked to make a cake for the department celebration.  Since he was not the only one being honored at the celebration, I wanted a cake that was universally relevant for everyone who got tenure.  So I came up with the idea of making the 'tenure clock'-- it is a metaphorical thing that many professors allude to during their early years as faculty members when they only have limited time to prove they are worthy of tenure!  Since we are both in the mechanical engineering department, I thought a steam punk clock in the Georgia Tech white and gold color scheme would be perfect.

I started by buying some decorative gears from Amazon and making some custom molds.  In the above picture, you see the original metal gear, the mold I made, and one of the gum paste gears on the right.  I made the gears by gently spreading gum paste into the mold, and it was a bit trickier than I'd planned on.

I then made some templates for hands and numbers.

And cut and cut and cut with my little x-acto knife:

I used a mixture of gold and bronze luster dusts with fan brushes to give the pieces their final coloration.

Then got to putting the cake together!
It is a chocolate cake iced in vanilla buttercream (always a fun challenge):

To make the border, I used the FMM border cutter set:

And finished with luster powder.  Then I just had to configure the gears!

Of course one of the engineers at the reception asked if the clock was functional.  :oP  But most seemed to appreciate the tenure clock concept.  And really appreciated liqueur-soaked chocolate cake with chocolate truffle filling.

So there it is!  The tenure clock!  Congratulations to my fabulous fiance and his colleagues who were awarded tenure this spring. :)