The fast food cake has been on my mind for a while now. It was originally thought of as a KFC cake, which I was disappointed with what I was shown, being KFC displayed on a cup cake stand. It didn’t feel like a ‘cake’ but rather a fanciful display of chicken. I set myself the goal to create the proper fast food cake, with a few rules to keep it ‘authentic’:
- The whole cake must be from fast food outlets. In my case, Dominos, KFC and McDonalds.
- Note that a gourmet version of this could be done, but may not be worth it.
- As a cake does, it must HOLD itself together. It needs to be structurally sound without props.
- As a cake does, it must slice nicely and be eaten as a slice and NOT pulled apart.
- As a cake does, it should slice and present nicely.
- As a cake does, it must present nicely as a cake and not as a slop or heap of junk food.
These rules kept me grounded in my design and it allowed for a structurally sound design that I am quite proud of. Here we go:
Step 1: Pizza base of a deep pan pizza from Dominos.
Step 2: Chicken nuggets from McDonalds as a second layer perimeter. It must kiss the crust edge for the best effect.
Step 3: Fill the chicken nugget fortress with McDonald’s fries.
Step 4: Layer on the next pizza (normal pizza base) to help with the “tiered” cake look.
Step 5: Double cheese burgers go on, again, kissing the crust. These were double cheese burgers as there is less bread in the burger, with an added height to a normal cheese burger. It’s good to note how well these cut later.
Step 6: Thin crust pepperoni pizza. Thin as I think we have enough pizza dough.
Step 7: KFC pieces on top. Make sure that these align nicely with the pizza slices themselves. The flaw in this is that you cannot eat this as a slice due to bones. You could debone, but it was presented as more of a garnish on top, similar to a cherry, which you would use your hands for.
Step 8: Gravy the boys up and (s)mash the middle.
Step 9: Jab candles into the chicken and present it to the birthday boy.
Step 10: Salivate and photograph before the first slice.
Step 11: Slice the baby up… You’ll note how amazing the burger and fries and nugget layers handled themselves. The chicken on the top gave way unfortunately.
Step 12: Not really a step, but I think it’s important to show how most of it was still standing after the cut. We nicked a few pieces on the left side, and thus, ANY dragging, would affect its structural integrity.
The total cost was about $120. There could have been cost optimisations depending upon meal deals, vouchers and the like. It fed 10 people of which, it was similar to a large entree / small main (for people who appreciate these kinds of things). The following was used in the making of and there were of course the extra components as well:
- 6 double cheese burgers from McDonalds
- 4 large fries from McDonalds
- 50 McNuggets from McDonalds
- 3 large pizzas from Dominos
- 1 KFC family feast
- 15 pieces of chicken
- 2 large potato and gravy
- 2 large chips (not used)
- 10 wicked wings (not used)
There have been many discussions as to improvements to the design, and upgrades. Key notes, post mortem:
- Flavour profile of components could match and work well together, like certain types of pizzas.
- Getting the pizza cut perfectly so that the slice doesn’t have issues with cutting.
- Edge crust pizzas could be used to remove the issue of cutting through the hard crusts.
- Prevent people from jumping in and stealing pieces, and instead, serving them full slices.
- Choose nugget sauce and apply.
Overall, it was a success in my eyes and everyone elses eyes (and stomaches). I’d like to leave this out there for inspiration for others to top, with improved heights and grander designs.