As this was a quick turnaround cake we made our standard plain sponge cake with chocolate ganache and Italian meringue buttercream (of which Rob is now a master). We used our favourite round tins by Silverwood (http://www.lakeland.co.uk/15096/Silverwood-Victoria-Surprise-Cake-Set), these clever tins allow you to create a hollow in the middle of the two cakes halves. This make it a lot easier not to get a bulge running around the centre of the cake caused by escapee buttercream.
The cake was covered with white sugarpaste and models of 3 characters were placed on top (Giggles the Baboon, Goldie the Labrador and Snowdrop the rabbit). But we couldn't stop there.... small party hats were added to each character and we placed some edible balloons in the background to set the scene. Finally we finished the cake off with a fondant bow and number.
The first animal I attempted was Goldie the Labrador as he was a fairly basic shape. To make the body I coloured some icing ivory and made a large ball then slightly tapered it at one end. To give the model a bit more support and make sure his head stayed on I stuck some dried spaghetti through him.
The head was made by rolling out a ball and then shaping it to have a muzzle. The ears are just small teardrop shapes attached with water. The arms and legs are sausages with tapered points and flattened ends for the feet. The next job was to make a small football for him to hold, next time I will do the football markings before placing it on the model!
Here he is all propped up by various piping nozzles, decorating tools and kitchen towel to harden before being given a cute little blue nose, small eyebrows and patches.
I then applied the finishing touches (the eyes took forever, so small!) and voila!
Next up was Snowdrop, he was made in a similar fashion to Goldie so I've just included a few progress shots.
Next up was the Baboon and to my childish delight the soft toy includes a little pink bottom. I made certain not to miss this detail when making the model!
Now the fun part, assembling everything without breaking any of the models.....
Stay tuned for a rather unique cake next week!
