Sports Shoe Cake Tutorial

A sports shoe cake is a great gift for a boy or man. No matter what the age, men will always be boys when it comes to sports. This is a simple beginners tutorial on how to make a simple sports shoe cake with limitless options to explore further.

This was my Aadi's Birthday cake.. He wanted a Basket ball and a shoe cake.  But of course we need need a lot of cake so I decided to make just one shoe and a 6 inch ball cake. With kids it's so much fun to make these cakes because they do have some funny ideas and designs in their head.

I didn't really plan to make a tutorial. As you can tell from the scribbles on my shoe template below;  I made this cake with the kids involved. I did take a few pictures but it was actually for my personal documentation.

But when I posted this cake on Facebook some of you asked how I made the shoe so I went digging for those images. Not the best images I'll admit but I do think they give you an idea of how I carved the cake. right?

Cake flavors & frosting 

• For the cake ball cake you can use  my sphere cake recipe - For the shoe I have two sheet cake recipes you can use since my Strawberry Sheet Cake is not on the blog. Try my Chocolate Sheet cake and Vanilla and Chocolate Sheet cake
  Ideally it would be best to use a firm cake such as  my pound cake or sheet cakes I mentioned above.
  BUT my Aadi insisted on his favorite Strawberry cake with Strawberry Buttercream.  I know again!!
  Not very smart but what we won't do for our kids, enh? The strawberry butter cream has crushed strawberries so had to be kept in the fridge too!
• Frosting  - For the ball it's my chocolate ganache recipe and for the shoe it's my Velvet American Buttercream with strawberry puree
• Sugar Paste - Homemade Sugar Paste/ fondant recipe from scratch or Homemade Marshmallow recipe 

So here goes some pictures of the carving with a little brief below on how I decorated it.

 Carving the shoe

Make two templates of the shoe. One of the heel and the other of the side of the shoe. The heal give you the base and the side helps carve the shape. To make the template. Just place the shoe over a paper, first on it's heels then on it's side. Or print an an image from the internet.
I used my son's new shoes because he wanted his own shoe. I know!!  I used my pencil to trace it's outline then cut the  outline and you have a side template.

• I baked a Sheet cake 9 x 13 inch.
• Once the sheet cake is baked and cooled.
• Using the template cut out three layers of the cake for this shoe.
• The number of layers wild depend on the height of the shoe you want to make.
  For example if you wanted a booth you would need two full layers and a couple more half layers of the back heal part.
  Alternatively, if you need a short sports shoes you may need only two layers.
• Once you butter cream and stack the layers - Use a side template we created above and cut the side of  your shoe to carve the height.
  I did this free hand but a template can reduce any guess work.
• Crumb coat and chill completely.

 

Decorate the shoe

If you have a shoe you are coping - All you do is use the shoe as your template. Place the paper on the shoe - use a pencil and trace the various patterns. Use these patterns as templates for the shoe.

I have done this free hand without any template cause I'm just too bad with following templates. Plus my son had ideas of his own !! Here's what I did so you have an idea.

• First, I placed a piece of black fondant over the heels to give the illusion tha it's hallow.
• The lace tongue is made with two pieces of blue and black using fondant with CMC /Tylose. This will help keep it firm. use tissue or paper towel to hold in place until it sets.
• Next, place green fondant on the toes - cut to shape.
• Place another green fondant on the back of the heel coming right up to the beginning of the laces. Cut off excess. This is the inside lining of the shoe.
• Cut one long blue strip of fondant for above the laces and either sides. Cut to the shape or pattern you want.
  Notice I have cut at an angle behind and cut around the lace tongue on the top.
• Now start adding details, such as stitch marks, holes for the laces. I used an extruder for the laces, some edging around the shoe etc...

That's it.. your sports shoe is done!!

Don't forget to decorate your board. The board can be decorated based on the type of shoe.

We have another guest tutorial on how to make a Man's Shoe Cake by Gulnaz Mitchel on this blog too.
For example if you are making a Basket Ball Shoe the board can be a wood effect;
If you choose to make a soccer or football shoe it's would be nice to make some grass!!

Finally, here is my son with his cake. And here both my babies with their recent cakes.

Don't forget to save this tutorial on Pinterest for later

You can find a collection of my tutorials and recipes here on Pinterest.
Are you new to cake decorating? Do you love cake decorating?
Click here to see some of my Index of all cake tutorials from basic to advance.