Clear Creek Secondary School, Class of 1989, 30th Golddigger Reunion - 7/27/19
Here he is, Golddigger Gus in his vintage format, and he is so excited to celebrate the 30th Reunion of the Class of 1989, Clear Creek Secondary School! In Idaho Springs, Colorado gold mining runs deep in the history of the town, showing up everywhere in the every day, tommyknockers, mine carts, gold nuggets and all. So Gus is also really happy that he struck it sweet with a huge pile of quartize Gold Ore too!! Yes,this is my high school Reunion, and to see it sweet I've donated this cake, a gumpaste Gus, on a pile of cake gold, covered in marbled fondant and painted gold. Everything besides Gus is 100% edible! I chose to make a Metamorphic Vanilla Almond with Chocolate Swirl, Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream. YUM!
HUGE thanks out to Niki HB, Jen CL, and Kris H for their donations towards the ingredients for this cake!
The Class of '89 never had it so sweet!!
Here he is, Golddigger Gus in his vintage format, and he is so excited to celebrate the 30th Reunion of the Class of 1989, Clear Creek Secondary School! In Idaho Springs, Colorado gold mining runs deep in the history of the town, showing up everywhere in the every day, tommyknockers, mine carts, gold nuggets and all. So Gus is also really happy that he struck it sweet with a huge pile of quartize Gold Ore too!! Yes,this is my high school Reunion, and to see it sweet I've donated this cake, a gumpaste Gus, on a pile of cake gold, covered in marbled fondant and painted gold. Everything besides Gus is 100% edible! I chose to make a Metamorphic Vanilla Almond with Chocolate Swirl, Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream. YUM!
HUGE thanks out to Niki HB, Jen CL, and Kris H for their donations towards the ingredients for this cake!
The Class of '89 never had it so sweet!!
WORK - IN - PROGRESS
This cake was a lot of fun to work on.There was some original controversy, as the Clear Creek School district has changed their mascot drawing, from Old Gus, the cartoony old-skool version you see here, and New Gus, breaking barriers, looking badass in a 6pack. Our Old Gus is dear to our hearts though, so the three donors I had and myself conferenced and decided OLD Gus was the way to go for us old Diggers!!! I ended up having to go into my old boxes for the football game program I took this reference from. Gus used to also have a Junior Varsity pal named Dusty that I can find no reference of, but who apparently still lives on in the memories of my alumni.
Gus was made from wire frame, which was then foodsafed, and bulked out in tinfoil, then foodsafed again. Gumpaste was then applied to the outside, built up in layers. First, his hands, then his boots. His face was made separately, beard added later. Then his pants and shirt, and additional small details like his pickaxe. He was then attached to a dowel installed into the board, more foodsafing followed. I take food safety seriously!
Next I baked and filled four 9x12 all-butter poundcakes, Vanilla Almond with a chocolate syrup swirl - "Metamorphic" Swirl for those fellow geology geeks out there. Those four were filled with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, stacked, cake blocks carved off and attached, and more buttercream was applied in a crumb-coat. I then rolled white, grey, black, tan, and dark brown fondant together into a marbled swirl. The cake was covered in chunks of this marble fondant, altering grain directions as real gold ore would.
Gold Ore where you can SEE the gold is just one of those have-to-be-there things. Holding a piece, it's easy to see how miners went "gold-crazy". I worked for awhile as a guide in a mine that ran tours and mined the vein. It gave me a unique perspective, and no small amount of remembered reference. The Gold was both dabbed and airbrushed onto the textured rocks, and shadows were airbrushed on top of that.
I then drove this cake an hour away, through heat and rain, where it delighted the Class of 89, until we ATE IT!!!
Gus was made from wire frame, which was then foodsafed, and bulked out in tinfoil, then foodsafed again. Gumpaste was then applied to the outside, built up in layers. First, his hands, then his boots. His face was made separately, beard added later. Then his pants and shirt, and additional small details like his pickaxe. He was then attached to a dowel installed into the board, more foodsafing followed. I take food safety seriously!
Next I baked and filled four 9x12 all-butter poundcakes, Vanilla Almond with a chocolate syrup swirl - "Metamorphic" Swirl for those fellow geology geeks out there. Those four were filled with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, stacked, cake blocks carved off and attached, and more buttercream was applied in a crumb-coat. I then rolled white, grey, black, tan, and dark brown fondant together into a marbled swirl. The cake was covered in chunks of this marble fondant, altering grain directions as real gold ore would.
Gold Ore where you can SEE the gold is just one of those have-to-be-there things. Holding a piece, it's easy to see how miners went "gold-crazy". I worked for awhile as a guide in a mine that ran tours and mined the vein. It gave me a unique perspective, and no small amount of remembered reference. The Gold was both dabbed and airbrushed onto the textured rocks, and shadows were airbrushed on top of that.
I then drove this cake an hour away, through heat and rain, where it delighted the Class of 89, until we ATE IT!!!