Stromboli cake

So one of my coworkers can not get enough Italian food!  Johnny just so happens to be in love with these chicken Stromboli from our local pizza shop.  Back in December 2010 I thought it would be comical to surprise him with a Stromboli look-a-like cake for his birthday.  Here's what I ended up with:

My attempt at a Stromboli look-a-like :-)
If you look closely, you may be able to see the
images in the background that served as a reference
throughout the design process.

A shot of  one of the ends of the cake.  I tried to mimic all the
little chicken pieces, cheese and tomato sauce, heehee.

A closer look

To my surprise the cake was a hit and the look on everyone's faces was priceless, especially Johnny's!

It's difficult for me to remember but I believe this was an all vanilla cake, including the buttercream.  The outside is wrapped in white fondant that I "painted" with various shades or brown, orange and yellow icing gels.  I used red fondant to create the tomato sauce, and white fondant to create the cheese and little chicken pieces.  I also painted on these areas to try and create some depth.  Oh, and I covered the chicken pieces in toasted coconut to give it the look of baked breadcrumbs.  I have to admit that I think it's pretty cool to be able to paint on cake in this fashion and to be able to give it such a realistic appearance!