This cake is the result of a request for the theme “One foot in the grave.” My friend turned 43 this year, and I had no idea how to turn that into a cake. I found some ideas for a One Foot in the Grave Cake online, modified them, and came up with this.
The cake itself is a moist, milk chocolate recipe. There are 4 layers, and the filling alternated between layers. The first filling was raspberry buttercream. I made a plain buttercream recipe and whipped in some raspberry preserves. The filling in the very center was milk chocolate frosting sandwiching a thin layer of raspberry preserves.
For the outside, I decided that the decorations would all be fondant since I’ve been experimenting with fondant lately. I iced the whole cake in a milk chocolate frosting (perfect for a dirt scene). I carved out the “grave” and left crumbs scattered around so it would look freshly dug. My original plan for the dirt was brown sugar, but the cake crumbs looked much more authentic.
The headstone reads, “43 this year. Party while he’s still here.” The man, aka “Gregg,” is all made of fondant. I took my cues on how to make his head from some Claymation shows my son enjoys watching. I made the head and hands ahead of time so they would dry, and attached them to the arms on the cake. After the hands were attached, I made scratch marks in the frosting to make it look like Gregg was being pulled in against his will. (That was actually the most humorous part!)
The rocks are fondant as well. I would recommend not using white rocks, as mine were misinterpreted as “eggs.” Everything is held in place with toothpicks and frosting.
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