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Updated on April 30, 2020 by · This post may contain affiliate links ·

Introduction to Cake Sculpting

Skill level: Intermediate

If you've ever wanted to jump into making 3D sculpted cakes but were nervous to try or didn't know how to start, then this class is for you. Liz Marek goes over every step of the process, all the materials you need and the pros and cons of using fondant, modeling chocolate and what recipes to use to get a great sturdy cake and buttercream.

Learn how to find reference photos, how to scale your work up, and how to check your work. Liz also covers an introduction to hand-painting and airbrushing and getting the colors correct.

3:06:05 Minutes of Instruction

What You Will Learn

  • How to find good reference photos or models
  • What type of cake you should use to sculpt with
  • The tools and materials you will need to make amazing structures
  • How to scale up or down any reference
  • Best practices when estimating cake servings
  • How to get the most out of your cakes and not waste ingredients
  • Tons of tricks and tips Liz Marek uses to achieve cakes with style
  • The pros/cons of using modeling chocolate and fondant and when to use them
  • How to color match modeling chocolate and fondant

Tutorial Chapters

  1. Where to find reference 0:18
  2. Calculating scale 6:02
  3. Estimating cake servings 11:42
  4. Editing and printing reference photos in Photoshop 22:14
  5. Designing cake structure 29:17
  6. Tools and Materials 36:33
  7. Structure assembly 41:06
  8. Building the cake 45:08
  9. Frostings and Fillings 47:19
  10. Prepping the cake board 48:36
  11. Building and carving the body 49:46
  12. Center support 58:52
  13. Building the head 1:02:38
  14. Carving the head 1:04:28
  15. Crumbcoating the cake 1:22:15
  16. Preparing buttercream 1:25:20
  17. Final buttercream coat 1:26:07
  18. How to get smooth buttercream 1:27:27
  19. All about modeling chocolate 1:33:48
  20. All about fondant 1:42:53
  21. Coloring fondant and modeling chocolate 1:49:20
  22. What to do with seams and paneling fondant 1:54:54
  23. Making the ears 2:10:02
  24. When to use rice cereal treats and when to avoid them 2:10:24
  25. Checking our ears to the reference 2:17:47
  26. Attaching the ears 2:20:42
  27. Making the hair 2:25:19
  28. Making the back legs 2:28:22
  29. Front legs 2:34:14
  30. How to make the chest fur 2:37:58
  31. Making the eyes 2:39:50
  32. How to make the snout 2:50:32
  33. Making the mouth 2:55:05
  34. Pig tail 2:55:54
  35. Painting the cake 2:57:10

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About Liz Marek

Liz Marek is a professional cake artist and recipe developer who has been teaching baking and cake decorating since 2008. She founded Artisan Cake Company in Portland, Oregon in 2009 and now runs Sugar Geek Show, where she publishes kitchen-tested recipes, food science explanations, and step-by-step tutorials.

Liz is best known for sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes. She won Netflix's Is It Cake? Holiday 2 in 2025 with a hyperrealistic Santa cake, and has competed on and won Food Network cake competitions. Cake Masters Magazine named her one of the top 10 cake artists in 2017. She is the author of Artisan Cake Company's Visual Guide to Cake Decorating and a graduate of the Oregon Culinary Institute.

Her focus is on explaining not just how a recipe works but why it works, so bakers can troubleshoot instead of guess. Every recipe on this site is tested before it's published.

Liz teaches full-length cake tutorials, including sculpted and hyperrealistic cakes, at Sugar Geek University.