The Peppermint Diner

by Shirley Trask
(Palm Bay, Florida)

The Peppermint Diner

This food art was created for the 2010 Festival of Trees in Melbourne, Florida. The Festival is run by the Junior League of South Brevard. It will be auctioned off for charity.

The inside is lit up and the sign on the roof rotates slowly. The curved end pieces were a challenge until I made baking forms from aluminum roof flashing and a pop rivet gun.

The roof was baked over a large Pyrex bowl then allowed to harden for two days. Prior to baking, I had made a dome from rice crispy bars using the inside of the same bowl. This would be my support for the domed sections.
Curved arches of gingerbread provided the center support in the roof. All of this rested on the "attic" floor.

The window boxes are rice crispy bars covered with fondant. Poinsettias are royal icing with whole allspice centers. The brick walkway is colored fondant with course ground nutmeg mixed in. The parking lot is fondant with large sugar crystals sprinkled on.

The roof tiles are fondant, with peppermints, Dots and Jujubes. The tubed edging under the roof is candy "rope" that comes in 34" lengths. It is painted with silver petal dust and vodka.

It took three weeks to build, approximately 120 hours.