How to Make a Catfish Cake {Picture Tutorial}
I know there’s probably not a huge demand for catfish cakes, but since my hubby was doing lots of the work on the catfish cake, I was able to snap pics while he worked and do a catfish cake tutorial. So here you go: How to Make a Catfish Cake!
And since I had them, I figured why not share?
Now this is not a comprehensive tutorial – some of the work had already been done before I got the camera (the fins were made) and it was nearing 2am when I did the whiskers and eyes and I didn’t think to take pics of those. But this will give you a general idea of how to do it!
So, prior to starting, you’ll want to go ahead and make the fins at least a day in advance so they can harden. We actually made them the same day we baked since I knew we wouldn’t be decorating until the next day.
The fins were made with gum paste, but you could also do them with fondant and add Tylose. We used Wilton gray from the Transformers set to get the color. When I try to use black gel to get gray, it often turns out looking purple, so I recommend the gray gel.
Alrighty, so I started with a cake baked in an 11″x15″ pan. It happened to be red velvet.
Very “Steel Magnolias” huh? If you know what that means… yay! If not, don’t tell me. It makes me feel old.
Next, cut the cake in half length-wise, smear on some cream cheese frosting (or frosting of your choice) and stack the cakes…
Before snapping this pic, I had started to frost the outside of the cake. Then I realized that was a wasted step because i had to carve it – so all that frosting would be carved away.
So I stopped frosting (halfway through), took a pic, popped it in the freezer for about 15 minutes, then started carving! Don’t skip the freezer step!! When the cake is really cold (or partially frozen), it won’t tear up as easily when you’re carving.
I can’t really tell you specifically what I did here except I looked at a picture of a catfish and tried to carve away until I got he right shape. Be sure to use a really sharp knife. I choose to use a smooth blade, but some cakers use a serrated knife. Totally up to you and what you’re more comfortable with.
After I carved, I realized the tail needed to be longer and more pointy (I don’t have a picture before I did this), so I took some of the cake scraps, mixed it with some frosting to get a cake ball/dough texture, then squished it together to extend the tail… you can see it better here…
Okay, once I had the shape I wanted, I crumb coated the entire thing.
If you’re ready to decorate right after this, I’d suggest just chilling it for 10-15 minutes.
We weren’t decorating until the next day, so after this I covered it and chilled it overnight. The next night, we got busy decorating. Mostly my hubby from this point on…
He rolled out the fondant using The Mat and covered it first – being sure to smooth it really well (catfish are slick, shiny, very smooth critters!).
After this, I used tools from the Gum Paste Tools set to make indentions for the eyes (ball tool) and a slit for the mouth and gills….
I didn’t get a good picture of it at this stage, but you can see in my original post – we cut the gills deep enough that you could see the red velvet cake inside so that it looked like the gills of a real fish (ewwww!!!).
Next he put on the fins. I should say, he was making these about the same time I was carving the day before, so we made sure to check the size of them against the cake to make sure they were proportionally correct. Does that make sense?
I guess I’m just saying, be sure you don’t make huge fins for a tiny fish or vice-versa. Then it would look funny. And nobody wants a funny looking catfish, right?
Okay – so after that – it was time to do the really nerve-racking step. Spray painting a cake. This step is the reason I enlisted my husband to help on this cake. I was super nervous about the idea of spraying color onto a cake.
I don’t own an airbrush kit, so we decided to go with Wilton Color Mist spray. We had bought silver and black Wilton Color Mist sprays.
Hubby covered most of the cake in a good coat of silver (not as much around the bottom since the belly of a catfish is more white)… then he went over it with a light spray of black. So that he fins would blend in, he sprayed them too.
Oh, and we did this on a piece of wood on the floor – with parchment paper tucked under all the edges of the cake so the board wouldn’t be sprayed too!
If you choose to take on something like this – let me give you one piece of advice – do not touch the spray after it’s done. You can not blot it, spread it, smooth it, or in any other way “fix” it once it’s done. You also cannot make it shine with shortening… it flakes off. Trust me, we learned the hard way!
Okay – so after that, I added the eyes (fondant) and whiskers (gum paste – made ahead). I also used black gel to paint around the mouth and get it looking as gross real as possible.
And that’s that!
More fun “manly” cakes here:
- Golf Bag Groom’s Cake… or for Father’s Day!
- Golf Ball on the Green Birthday Cake
- Wild One Drum with Teepee Cake Topper
- Woodland Animals Tree Stump Cake & Smash Cake
- Godzilla Cake
Do you have any questions about this cake? Please leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer and help out!
I sooo could have used this tutorial a couple months back. I looked everywhere online for a tutorial but couldn’t find anything. So I just kinda carved it out like you, although your catfish looks great, mine looked like a whale 🙁 ……..and I used an edible liquid silver to brush it on, so it was shiny like a quarter. Oh well, I think they still enjoyed it, LOL!! Great job as always!!
Awww, I’m sure it was great! Thank you!
This is such an “ugly” (awesome) catfish cake! I love it and am so impressed! How did you get the eyes to be so so shiny?
Thanks Megan! I actually brushed corn syrup over them to make them shiny!
My daugter wants me to help her make this for her boyfriends birthday. He is an avid fisherman. Would it be possibe to use the shoe string black licorice for the whiskers of the catfish? I’m also a little leary about messing up the tail….any suggestions?
Yes, you could probably use the licorice for the whiskers. For the tail, just make it ahead of time and let it dry plenty and it should be fine!
This is amazing! Thank you for sharing how you did this. I’m enlisted to do a catfish cake for my nephew’s bday bash in a few weeks and this helps me out so much! I’ve done about every shaped cake but definitely not a catfish…
I do have one question, how many people did this feed?
Thanks again!
Thanks Dulce! Well… it would just be a guess, but I’d think maybe 20-25 servings? I started with an 11×15″ pan, which has 30-35 servings, and then I carved away to get the fish shape.
My son is turning 12 this weekend and he requested a “Fishing Tournament” for his party with his friends. With that kind of party, of course you need a Catfish cake!!! I googled catfish cake pans and your site popped up. Thank God!! I don’t think I would have known where to begin with such an endeavor!! Your tutorial will come in handy for sure this weekend when I make my attempt to duplicate your masterpiece!!
Awesome!! Leave me a comment or shoot me an email if you have questions!! Good luck 😀
Hello! This cake is AWESOME!! I was just wondering, what did you make the fins out of?? I looked in your tutorial but didn’t find anything. 🙂
They’re made from gray gum paste and allowed to dry 2-3 days so they were really hard.
Oh wow…I have no experience working with gumpaste. 🙁 Do you have any other suggestions for what we could possibly make the fins out of?
About how many do you think this would feed?
My estimate was 30-35.
thank you so much 🙂
I just have to say that once again, you have totally amazed me. And it is so cool that your husband helped out on this one. Oh, I would love to come spend a day with you!!!!
I’m so glad you shared this. I’m a new baker and want to make this for my friend. Keep your finders crossed that it comes out looking like yours. Thanks for sharing!!
Love this cake! I was hoping to make one like this for my husband, but the week of his birthday we will be in a beach rental. I was thinking about making it ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to worry about making it there, but I am wondering how the mist and your gum paste fins would hold up to being in the refrigerator. What do you think?
I never refrigerate fondant covered cakes – especially in the hot and humid south, because when you take the cake out of the frig, it will sweat (ie., condensation will accumulate on it). You could bake the cake, fill it, carve, frost it and make all of the fins ahead, and then refrigerate it for a few days, but I’d save the decorating until a day or two before so it doesn’t have to be refrigerated again.
Love this cake!!! Going to do a mini version to make sure I can do a big one. Any tips on the fins or detailing?
We really just eye-balled them. We cut them out, leaving little “tails” on the end of each one to push into the cake. We also did the texturing while the gum paste was soft, but waited to paint them after they hardened. Best of luck!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing this masterpiece and the tutorial! I will make a catfish groom’s cake in a few weeks. So, after decorated, will it be ok to sit at room temperature for 1-2 days before serving? Again, thank you for your enerous spirit of sharing! PS Told my husband, an avid fisherman, he has an upcoming assignment…help with this cake 😉
I am making my boyfriend a bass fish cake, very close to your cake. I was wondering if you put your cake in the fridge when you were completely finished with it (fondant, spray, last touches, ext…). Some people say you can not refrigerate a fondant cake because of moister, or just leave it out on the counter? But that seams gross to me I am always putting my cakes in the fridge. I don’t work with fondant a lot (butter cream lover). If you have any tips or pointers that would be great! Love your cake btw!!
No, I do not recommend refrigerating a fondant covered cake – especially if you’re in a humid environment. But if you live somewhere really dry – you might could get away with it. I just can’t be sure because I never do it.
Thank you so much for your reply!
Thank you so much for this awesome tutorial! Tell me – I need to make this as a groom’s cake for 50. What size cake should I start with? Also, how did you attach the fins? Thanks again!!
Oooh, I’m not sure. Even if you started with the biggest sheet cake pan (12×18, I think), you’d only end up with ~40-44 servings?! The other option would be to lay the fish on a sheet cake decorated to look like water!
Love this, and am going to be making one soon. As far as the cake is concerned, did you use a box cake mix? if so how many? if not how did you determines how much cake batter to use to get that height? (sorry if this is a repeat question from above)
Really an amazing cake and hope I can make one just as amazing.
Making this today for my father-in-laws 88th birthday…his nickname is CATFISH…thank you so much for sharing this…so far going well
Awesome! I hope it turns out great for you!
This cake is terrific. How did you make the eyes (color etc)
Thank you
I have never used fondant or any of the tools, etc. That is the most awesome catfish cake!!!! I am a little scared, but this is for my grandson so I am going to try!!! I can get to the step of shaping the fish, but the fondant! Eek!!! Is there any way just to use regular icing? Or is there an easy way to do fondant? Thank you for your time!! I really enjoyed the tutorial!! Thanks, Kim
Hi Kim! You could use a crusting buttercream (http://rosebakes.com/crusting-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-my-favorite-for-decorating/) and smooth it with a Viva paper towel if you felt more comfortable using buttercream. I recommend giving fondant a try though! I use The Mat to roll out my fondant, but you can roll it out straight on your counter by using either powdered sugar or Crisco to keep it from sticking, then gently roll it up on your rolling pin and unroll over the cake. Just be sure to roll it out big enough that you will have over hang on all sides so you can smooth it down without creases. Stretch and smooth down towards the board all round the cake in sections, then cut the excess off with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. Hope that helps. Happy caking!