I have to admit this was a bit of a painstaking process – I spent the whole morning baking! The aim was to make a surprise inside cake, with hidden round red ‘ladybirds’, complete with black spots. I had been inspired by some amazing photos on pinterest, and just had to have a go at it myself. So with my nieces second birthday on the horizon I decided to take on the challenge.
cake decorating
Ladybird themed fondant decorations
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!!
Cakes in 2012 – Topsy Turvy
Okay, I’m almost up to date with my cakes from the past 12 months. Actually, I just realised I made this cake late in 2011, but not to worry!
Now this cake was my first ever attempt at a tiered cake. So what did I do but decide on four tiers! Nothing quite like jumping in at the deep end. It was also my first ever attempt at covering a cake with fondant.
It was for Hubs’ 40th birthday party. He’s right into sailing, so I envisioned a little man in a boat on the top, but I wasn’t confident enough to tackle fondant figures yet. I tried to bring out a watery theme though by using blues, circles for bubbles, and the waves of blue around the bottom.
Actually those blue waves weren’t planned. They were more of a fix-up job. I thought I’d done the right thing by using dowels in each of the lower levels, but obviously I hadn’t done it quite right, because once I’d assembled the cake, it ever so slowly started to lean, making cracks and ripples in the fondant. I had to put the cake next to the wall so it had something to lean on! I should have left the assembly until right before the party, but I was going to be out the whole day, so had to get it done the day before. We all got a good laugh at my really really topsy turvy cake. We dubbed it the Drunken Sailor cake. Hmm!
I had fun making this cake, and I’m sure I’ll try another topsy turvy cake in the future – maybe not with so many tiers next time though!
pinwheelsandpompoms.com 