Last week, I had the honor of making custom cookies for the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI). The cookies were to celebrate the grand opening of the new exhibit, “Celebrating Century 21”, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair.
The exhibit showcases a wide range of artifacts, photographs and media documents from the 1962 World’s Fair selected from MOHAI’s collection. One of these artifacts on display is a vintage sky ride bucket from the Union 76 Sky Ride attraction. I thought this would make for a great cookie design.
I google-searched for images of this specific sky ride back in its heyday and I found this amazing vintage ad.
The perspective of the sky ride bucket was perfect for the cookie I wanted to make. As promised before, I’m going show the steps I took to create this cookie. Here it goes…
I edited the image of the sky ride bucket to the size I wanted, printed it out, and made a plastic template to use as a cutout guide for the dough. (The edited image on paper looks kinda funny because the original ad where I took this from had the top of the bucket cut off. I had to combine an image of another bucket to complete the shape.)
I waited a day after the cookies were baked to start decorating (the cookie is firmed up and dry if I wait about a day).
Step 1. – I marked with a food-coloring marker where the window shapes should be on the cookie. I did this by cutting out the window holes in the plastic template to use as a guide.
Step 2. – I outlined the window shapes with light blue piping icing. I usually do 3-4 cookies at a time before moving on to the next step.
Step 3. – Flood the windows with light blue flood icing.
Step 4. – After the light blue icing sets for about 30 minutes, outline the edge of the cookie with red piping icing.
Step 5. – Carefully flood around the blue windows with red flood icing. I used a Wilton #2 tip for this step so I could get into the small spaces in between the windows without making too much of a mess of things.
Step 6. – Flood the rest of the cookie with red flood icing.
Step 7. – After the base is completely dry (I like to let it dry overnight), pipe in the details [see below]. Take red piping icing and outline the windows, the top & bottom lip line, and the door frame. Take grey piping and do the door handle, the step bar and the bumper guards on the side. Last take yellow piping icing and draw the Union 76 logo on the bottom.
Ta da! It’s done!
If you are in the Seattle area or are planning on visiting in the next few months, check out the “Celebrating Century 21” exhibit. You can find it in the International Fountain Pavilion at Seattle Center. It is open now until October 21, 2012. Best of all… it’s free.
