Turntable Cake

This is a fun and a relatively easy-to-make (promise!) 100% edible cake that looks like a turntable. The tonearm is moveable; you can move it back and forth between rest position and play position over the record. I made this for the bassist in my band who is a huge vinyl collector. He was beyond thrilled!

I used my recipe for a standard dense cake where I used one less egg, added some applesauce, and 1/4 cup melted chocolate chips. This makes for a good stable cake to decorate. You can use a box cake mix and use egg yolks instead of whole eggs, and add milk instead of water.

• cake batter for 1 cake
• square cake pan (I used a 7" springform)
• serrated knife
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 10 ounces buttercream frosting
• spatula
• butter knife
• 1lb white fondant
• rolling pin
• kitchen scissors
• dessert ring cutters in various sizes
• chopstick
• silver cake spray
• 1/4 lb black fondant
• 1/8 lb yellow fondant
• 2 Pocky sticks
• 3 Starburst candies
• 3 orange sugar pearls

Bake cake in a square pan and allow it to cool. Use your serrated knife to cut off the top so it's even.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave on high at 30 second increments, stirring each time, until completely melted and smooth.

Add 6 ounces of buttercream frosting to melted chocolate and stir until smooth.

Frost the top and sides of the cake evenly. Make sure there are no bumps.

Knead your white fondant for about 5 minutes to make it smooth and pliable.

Measure your cake's surface and sides to figure out how big your rolled out fondant should be. Roll it out to those dimensions at about 1/8" thickness.

Add a little bit of buttercream frosting on the iced cake. This will act as both a glue for the fondant and a filler for uneven cake areas.

Drape the rolled fondant on top of the cake and press into the sides and corners, pulling downwards. Cut off the excess with scissors and set aside to use for the decoration details.

Smooth out any bubbles (you could use a fondant smoother tool, I just use the palms of my hands or a wide flat spatula), then slice the fondant off neatly with a sharp knife at the bottom of the cake.

To make the turntable platter, roll out some of the white fondant to 1/4" thickness. Use large ring cutter to cut out a circle.

Use the tip of a round chopstick to make imprints around the platter, then spray paint it with the silver cake spray and allow to dry completely.

Using some water or buttercream as glue, attach the platter to the top left of the cake.

Knead the black fondant then roll it out to 1/8" thickness. Use a smaller ring than the platter ring to cut out the vinyl record.

"Glue" the vinyl record onto the platter.

Knead some yellow fondant and roll out to 1/8" thickness. Cut out an even smaller circle. "Glue" to the vinyl record.

To make the tonearm, place a Pocky stick on some rolled out fondant.

Wrap the Pocky in fondant and shape into tonearm. Give it a head and a needle shape using your fingers and tip of chopstick.

Spray one of the Starburst candies with the silver cake spray and allow to dry. Press into top right of cake, then press chopstick into the middle to make a little hole.

Cut off the bottom of the other Pocky stick and place inside the hole.

Now place a small ball of black fondant over the Pocky joint, then press the end of the tonearm onto the black fondant.

Rest the needle on the record for now. We will make a tonearm holder shortly so it can go back and forth as you please.

To make EQ knobs, use the small ring cutter to cut circles out of the other 2 Starburst candies. Press into bottom right of cake.

To make a pitch control slider, cut out a long thin strip of black fondant and slice a line down the middle. Add a piece of silver-sprayed white fondant for its slider. To make a tonearm holder, add a piece of silver sprayed white fondant between the pitch control and the record. Make sure it has an indent so the tonearm can rest snuggly in it.

Use a sharp skewer to poke holes under EQ knobs and above the pitch control slider.

Drop in little orange sugar balls. These are your lights!

To make a brand placard (where I put the birthday bassist's candle), work together some black and white fondant and twist so it looks like marble.

Roll it out to about 1/4" thickness, then cut out a rectangle. Use water or buttercream to glue onto bottom left of cake.