TSUNAMI!

In a somewhat spooky turn of events, I made this cake just 4 days before the Japanese Tsunami 2011. It was all quite bizarre especially as many people commented that the land set up and overall design looked like the classic textbook diagram of Kobe. Needless to say I was then getting requests for “lottery winner” cakes from the Head of Department, but whatever, it was unexpectedly relevant.

Method

This was a plain-and-chocolate-brownie-marble-cake, and honestly, beyond thinking that the sea bed isn’t cocoa-coloured I can’t really remember my reasoning for moving away from the brownie base I had was comfortable with. You will see there are certain patterns beginning to be repeated, for example, the blue butter icing river and sea, and the green to represent agricultural/fertile land.

It’s not very clear on the photo but the sea in fact was spread on with a pallet knife and there is a pattern depicting the withdrawal of the sea prior to the tsunami waves hitting the shore. Other features:

·         A bit of desiccated coconut again, this time as waves crash

·         Glace cherry (epicentre)

·         Boot laces (S-Waves)

·         Liquorice Allsorts provided the closest I could get to buildings – and once squidged and broken slightly, showed signs of being damaged by an earthquake

·         Melted chocolate and brown icing (liquefaction)

·         Spare brownie, chocolate butter icing and crystallised ginger (high ground)

·         Butter icing so far seems to be the most reliable “glue” in this case for sticking the settlement to the main cake

Application

Nothing new here…see previous uses! Any other ideas? Perhaps could be used as an introduction to, rather than a summary of, the topic. What do students think are the main impacts? Do they understand the processes that cause this event? What Protection, Prevention and Prediction strategies could be used? Or have been used in Asia?