Lord of the Rings Cake

Back in November, Le Jardin Blanc sent me this picture and asked if I could re-create this cake.

Of course I said yes.  So this became my first Lord of the Rings cake.  They only needed the cake to feed 25 people, so I suggested making the 'book' layer a dummy cake so that it wouldn't have to be scaled down to a tiny little replica.

It was a lot of fun to do, but as most of them do, it took a long time.  I am such a perfectionist when it comes to these, that I spend a LOT of time on them.  But I think it's worth it in the end.  Here's my recreation: