Travel-themed Retirement Cake

This cake is a sour cream chocolate cake iced with a vanilla bean Italian meringue buttercream. The cake is covered in a caramel-flavored fondant and the accents were done with chocolate fondant. Only the bottom suitcase is made with cake, the top two suitcases were made from rice cereal treats covered with fondant since a three-tier cake would have been too large for the number of people expected at the retirement party.

The 'Egyptian pyramids' are rice cereal treats covered with fondant and rolled in ground almond powder to give the appearance of sand. The passport is made from fondant piped with gold piping gel.

The flag on the top suitcase is the Egyptian flag and the flag on the top of the bottom suitcase is the Cuban flag as these are two places the retiree wishes to travel to in her retirement. The latches and accents on the suitcases are dusted with bronze and gold lustre dusts to try to make it look as authentic as possible.

I hope it's a great party!