In a couple of weeks we’ll be catching up with my brother and his family in Broome for a week-long holiday {yay, can’t wait to lounge by the pool!}. My niece recently celebrated her second birthday, but we haven’t seen her since last Christmas, so I want to make a cute birthday cake to take up there. Hopefully it will travel well in the plane!!

I’ve picked out a very cute surprise inside ladybird cake, and have already practised making a spotty cake. I’m not sure how I’ll get little black dots on my red ladybird spots yet, but that will just make it all the more fun!

Yesterday I made some ladybird themed fondant cake toppers. I plan to assemble the cake when we get to Broome – that should be interesting!

Anyway, I made some ladybird-spot fondant to make letters to spell out her name. I rolled out red fondant, and placed small balls of black fondant on top. The first time I tried this I ended up with very oval shaped spots. I found if I pressed down on the balls to flatten them slightly before I took to them with a rolling pin it worked out a bit better. I also made sure to rotate the fondant as I rolled, so I wasn’t rolling in only one direction.

I put the letters onto green scalloped circles, and added a few tiny flowers to each after I took these photos. The number 2 got special treatment and was decked out with both red and green in the background, cos it’s a big deal when you turn two, isn’t it! I made some little ladybirds, white and yellow flowers or varying sizes, and even a little caterpillar – he’s my favourite! Some of the leaves I left flat, and some I folded and curved slightly to add a bit more dimension. I remembered I’d bought a paint palette in a moment of inspiration, and got it out for my larger flowers. The circular hollows are just right to give the petals a little bit of a curve.

Next week I’ll tackle the ladybird spotted cake. And then I get to find out just how much fun it is to take a cake on a plane trip!