Coolest Jordan Shoe and Shoebox Cake

This Jordan shoe and Shoebox cake was both challenging and fun to make. While it took quite a few hours from start to finish the results were great. This was actually two cakes. The sneaker was a cake as well as the shoe box.

Cake Sizes

To start, I baked a half sheet (12 x 18) cake and 2 12″ square cakes. I cut the half sheet into 3 equal pieces. I took a shoe insert and placed on top of one of the pieces and cut around the insert. Cut insert to the size that you would like your shoe to be. I removed the excess pieces, but don’t throw them away. I then placed the insert on the second piece of cake and again cut around the insert. I again removed the excess pieces.

I used a Swiss meringue butter cream to put the pieces together. I stacked the shoe shaped pieces on top of one another. I used the last piece to cut smaller pieces to give the shoe shape. I placed the insert on the last piece, but this time I only cut out half of the insert. I placed it on top of the other pieces and inserted dowels to support the weight.

Sculpting and Crumb Coating (Sneaker)

After stacking the pieces on top of each other, I cut smaller pieces out from the leftover cake and placed in various spot of the shoe until I got the shape I was looking for. Using a large serrated knife and a turntable, I started to sculpt the shoe. I rounded the front part and kept shaving the cake until, I got the desired shoe shape that I wanted. I then crumb coated the shoe.

Make sure that your butter cream or ganache is a thicker consistency and not too thin. If you make a mistake, don’t worry, just crumble some cake in a bowl and add some of your butter cream to create like a paste and fill any holes. After that your shoe is completely covered and doweled. Place in the freezer for at least 1-2 hours. The sturdier the shoe is, the easier it will be to cover with your fondant or gum paste.

Shoebox

I used an actual Jordan shoebox top to cut the rectangle shape in the 12″ square cakes. I cut each layer and then stacked them on top of each other. I crumb coated it and after placing in the freezer for about 30 minutes to a hour, I took it out and covered the cake with black fondant. Now this can be done several ways, you can cut strips and piece together to get the effect of an actual box or just roll out fondant and cover it, whichever is easier for you.

I then mixed a piece of white fondant and black fondant to get the desired gray color to do the “lid” of the box. I used a small circle cookie cutter to cut a piece out on each side of the “lid”. To get the jump-man on the top of the box, I traced it onto parchment paper and rolled out a thin piece of gum paste and using a hobby knife I cut the shape out and glued on the top of the box. If you also want the label on the side, it’s easiest to use an edible image.

Covering and Decorating the Sneaker

Remove the shoe from the freezer. With a spray bottle, I sprayed the shoe with water. I rolled out a piece of gum paste and I covered the entire shoe. I downloaded a picture of the Jordan sneaker that I was doing and cut my fondant pieces to the dimension of the shoe. To get the patent leather look, I sprayed the black fondant with canola oil spray. I didn’t have an extractor to do the shoelaces, so I rolled out more gum paste and cut long thin strips and laced the shoe.

Cake Sizes

Sculpting and Crumb Coating (Sneaker)

Shoebox

Covering and Decorating the Sneaker

Related cakes: