Bible & Starbucks Coffee Cake - 10/10

This is a cake I made for my Pastor's 52nd birthday.  He is a faithful man of God who loves the Lord (and Starbucks coffee) so I really wanted to make him a cake that would portray this.  I envisioned his time of studying the Word with his Bible in front of him and his coffee nearby, ready to receive whatever the Lord gives him.  Now I just had to build it out of cake... 

 I made a dark chocolate mocha flavor cake with a vanilla toffee crunch filling--a coffee lover's dream-- and covered it in fondant.  The pages are edible images of actual Bible pages made to include one of Pastor's favorite verses, 2 Timothy 2:21 "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."  The coffee mug is constructed of rice crispy treats covered in fondant with an edible Starbucks logo as well and brown piping gel to look like coffee.  The pen and napkin are also fondant. 

I had thought about putting fondant on the cake board itself, but to me, it seems like such a waste:/  Therefore, I wrapped the board in wax paper, thinned out some brown food coloring with lemon extract and painted the wax paper with long brush strokes to make it look like wood.  It turned out great and had the effect of an aged wooden desk!  The only problem I had was that the "paint" remained quite tacky so I dusted it with cornstarch and that took care of it. 

Anyhow, I think my Pastor really enjoyed it!  I took it to church on Wednesday night and it was gone within 10 minutes--Praise the Lord everyone loved it!