Moana’s Tamatoa gigantic coconut crab cake video tutorial

So by now you all know how much I love making movie based food and cakes! So when I got invited to attend an early showing of Moana with my kids I couldn’t WAIT! it meant I’d be able make a cake based on SEEING the movie – not just previews! AND I’M SO GLAD!!! Tamatoa turned out WAY more awesome cause I saw the movie – now only if I could get invited to more prescreenings!

Before seeing the movie I was planning on making a cute pig cake – he’s adorable and I used to have a pig collection and even a pet pig so right up my alley! BUT alas – he’s not a very big character after the first few mins! So there I was – watching the movie, hoping for inspiration and BAM!  this this larger than life (literally 50 ft tall) crab covered in gold and jewels rockin Bowie inspired song!!! LOOOOOVE! seriously I knew I found my cake…

I mean look at that smile! (his teeth are my favorite part) Tamatoa is a GREAT character!

of course real life hit (the week before Thanksgiving) and with multiple starts and stops it took much longer than normal to get this cake done – it had lots of components that needed to dry! the structure – legs – took a few tries to get something that worked – but at the end of the day it all comes down to a good internal structure and base for carved cakes –

for the base I used –

• 1/2 inch 3’x3′ press board (should have used wood for drilling into)for the body base and claws)
• 1/4 inch rods – cut and bent
• 1/4 inch pipe holding thing-a-ma-gigs
• and finally liquid welding to keep the legs from rotating!

As for his treasure – I didn’t count but I made hundreds of fondant shells, make some “bones”, boats, totems, and small candy confetti (for money)  – and covered his back shell! then painted it with my favorite gold powder – Rokem gold – and added gold and silver and pearl beads, sixlets and gold sugar crystals for texture/filler!  Don’t forget Maui’s white bone hook right on top!

So his body and head are all cake – and the top half of his abdomen (aka bottom) the BOTTOM half of his abdomen is rice krispy treat – as are the claws.  So carve the shape, cover it with ganache and then fondant! the decorating is last and always the most fun! the full video has so many details! I hope you love him as much as I do!

This angle is the most spider like -I’m FREAKED out by spiders, even itty bitty ones – so to have a 3-4 foot “spider like” creature in my kitchen for over a week was creepy – as long as I didn’t look for too long I was okay – from the front it’s not creepy at all… but I watched too many coconut crab videos on youtube and **shudder** I had to stop – totally got my creepy vibe going.

The Cake Decorating Supplies used to make this carved structured cake

• Fondant (lots of blue, a little orange, white and black)
• Long, Sharp, Strong serrated knife (I like the Cutco Santoku-Style 10″ Slicer)
• small frosting spatula
• tapered spatula
• Fondant/gumpaste extruder (or a clay extruder you ONLY use for cake decorating)
• Fondant/gumpaste tools (I like these tools or these tools)
• 18 gauge wire
• Scriber Needle
• Turntable
• Gel color (ivory for teeth)
• Airbrush gun
• Airbrush paint
• Rolkem Super Gold
• gold sugar crystals
• shell silicon molds , more shell silicon molds
• edible confetti “sequins”
• silver edible balls
• gold edible balls
• pearl sixlets
• white edible balls

SOOOO what do you think!!! love him? love the movie? gonna make him  (I recommend going smaller – this was a beast!)

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Ashlee Marie

CEO at Ashlee Marie Cakes

Ashlee Prisbrey is a self taught cake decorator and home chef turned blogger turned youtuber. On her blog and youtube channel she shares cake decorating tutorials, from scratch recipes, and themed party food (cause for her parties are all about the food). In addition to blogging and videos she travels around the country speaking at blog conferences. Last year she competed on Food Network, the Halloween Baking championship, a dream come true! Ashlee loves empowering women and moms, in the kitchen, in blogging or in life. Her motto is nothing is too hard with the right tips and tricks.

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