UT Vols Grooms Cake - Smokey the Dog

Click for a larger image

Sometimes a cake just needs one super wow element to take it from average to awesome.  On this cake, old Smokey the Dog is definitely the star!  And I have Chaddy to thank for him!

We have done sports logos before, but Chaddy said that this was the most intricate we have attempted.  Most of the logos we have done previously allow for a lot of layering; placing one color on top of another.  This design really didn't allow for that though; everything had to be inlaid.  It was one GIANT modeling chocolate jigsaw puzzle!!

From start to finish, he worked on the design over 3 nights for a total of 8 hours.  He spent about 2 1/2 hours the first night just sorting out the graphics.  That means taking the logo and not only breaking it down into its separate colors to make cut files, but also mapping out a strategy for how each color will fit together or layer onto each other.

As a side note:  I just found out last week that due to legal actions taken by the makers of the Cricut Cake that current versions of neither SCAL (Sure Cuts a Lot) nor MTC (Makes the Cut) will cut on the Cricut.  This is truly sad news indeed, as I wouldn't use my Cricut near as much if I couldn't cut custom graphics.

An in-progress shot of the black logo after the charcoal inlay.

The rest of the time was spent making the various modeling chocolate colors and cutting them out and then putting them all together!!

Since the resulting topper (do you even call that a topper?) came our so great, we wanted to really go all out on the photo.  I have been contemplating "propping" my cake pictures for a while, and this was the first time I really did it.  We got 2 yards to Vols fabric as a backdrop and used the football helmet I bought long ago to use as a model for a sculpted helmet cake.

How about you guys?  Have you used props in your wedding (or just regular) cake pictures?  If so, what worked well for you?