Cool Homemade Coach Purse Cake for my Mother in Law

Here’s the story behind making this Coach purse cake. My mother in law’s birthday was late February. Like most women they all like bags and can’t get enough of them. My inspiration for making this Coach purse cake was actually her bag which is black. Since red her favorite color I made a red cake. I like to make small cakes that are just enough and not end up eating cake for the rest of the week.

This Coach purse cake was about eight inches long, four inches wide at the base and three inches at the top. I used an impression mat with flowers on the red fondant to give it a prettier look than just plain “leather” look. Who knows it might catch on! I made the handle out of gum paste with a wire to form the curve. Originally I made a buckle and flat strap. But that didn’t work out and just broke. So, I had to rush and make this handle overnight and dehydrated it in the toaster oven for about two hours. At least everyone got to see the cake with the handle and then it broke.

Making the Coach Purse Cake

For the cake I baked a dark chocolate cake mix in a 9”x13” pan. I used only half of the pan lengthwise and made them into four layers and filled them with vanilla Swiss Meringue Butter cream and carved the cake into the shape of the bag I wanted, then crumb coated it and put it back into the refrigerator to chill for a few hours to set. I wasn’t happy with the shape when I brought out the cake so I carved more off. Then I crumb coated that part and covered the cake with the red fondant one side at a time. The part that holds the zipper pull is made out of gum paste. I made it ahead of time to dry and then painted with silver luster dust. I made a few to allow for breakage.

The most tedious part of the purse cake was making the zipper out of fondant. The teeth were made by using an exacto knife to make indentations in the fondant to resemble a real zipper. I used silver luster dust to paint it. The zipper pull is also made out of gum paste and made ahead of time to dry. I used a cake decorating tool that has points on it to make the stitching around the zipper pull. I carved “Coach” into the zipper pull by using an exacto knife.

My mother in law and sister in law especially were really looking at the detail. The zipper especially because it looked like a real zipper. My mother in law didn’t want to cut the cake. Eventually she cut the cake because cakes are meant to be eaten! Everyone loved the purse and cake itself.

I enjoyed the challenge and I’ll probably make another coach purse cake in the future. Mother’s day is coming up soon. I just need to work on the handle so it doesn’t break.

Making the Coach Purse Cake

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