Fake Food Friday: Cheesecake!

Materials: Insulation foam, foamcoat, acrylic paint, spray sealer, clear epoxy, cheesecake packaging, sticker paper
Tools: Bandsaw, surform shaver, sandpaper

Hi All, welcome to our first Fake Food Friday!  I thought it would be appropriate to have our first FFF be the prop that started it all!
This cheesecake and its plated version were for You Got Older at Steppenwolf.  The packaged cheesecake came out of a grocery bag, and then later it came out on a plate, had two full size taper candles put on it, and two pieces cut out.

I started out with 1.5" insulation foam, cut into circles about the same size as my research cheesecake (yes, we all ate some after I was done!).  I used a Surform shaver tool to shave down the middle and give it a bit of an edge.  I then sanded that down, but I didn't spend too much time smoothing it out, knowing I was going to foamcoat it.

For the practical version of the cheesecake, I cut out two holes and inserted PVC pipe ends that fit the candles pretty well.  Then I did several coats of Rosco Foamcoat.  I tinted it by adding a bit of acrylic paint.

I built up a nice shell on the practical version and then cut out a quarter of the cake.   It was filled with a quarter of real cheesecake for the show, and then a layer of cheesecake filling (which is totally delicious and something I have 100% eaten straight out of the tub.)  And then I sanded it SO MUCH.

Because the foamcoat was already yellow, I didn't have to do much finish painting, but I did add a quick coat of light yellow and brushed on a bit of raw sienna to make the edges look cooked.  I then sealed the full one with clear satin spray.  For the practical cake, I sealed it completely with epoxy because I knew it was going to be by real food and washed every night.  I ended up sanding it down with some 220 grit sand paper so it wasn't too shiny.  I didn't get a picture of it though.

As we like to say on this blog, packaging SELLS IT.  This shell is from our research cake, which was conveniently empty by then... I found a logo online and printed it on some sticker paper.  As I said when I first posted it, I'd eat it.  

Unfortunately, my sticker was too subtle and we ended up taking the insert that came with the cheesecake, scanned it, and edited it so it was no longer so Chicago-y, (speaking of, if you find yourself in northern IL, I highly recommend trying some Eli's Cheesecake, which served as research and supply for our show).  This shop had a tabloid size printer, so we were able to print this on one sheet, making it look super professional.  Even though you can't see much of my cheesecake, I'd still eat it.  

There we have it, folx!  I think I need to go get some real cheesecake.  Or just some filling, I'm not picky.  Happy FFFriday!