Wednesday, January 30, 2013

elephant baby shower cake


My good friend Helen just had a baby girl this month, and had asked me to make a cake for her pink and white baby shower a couple of months ago (which is also featured this month on the  Hostess With The Mostess blog!).  I had happened to see a cake that she had pinned on her Pinterest board, and I quickly realized that I had already seen this cake before on Hello Naomi's blog, while drooling over her gorgeous cake creations!  What better inspiration to model my cake after!  So I decided to replicate the adorable fondant elephant, but I wanted to do the cake covered in cream cheese buttercream instead of fondant.


I started by making my fondant elephant almost a week before the baby shower, in order to give it time to fully dry.  At first I tried molding the elephant body and then attaching the trunk and legs, but I couldn't get it to look smooth.  So I ended up molding the entire elephant out of one piece of fondant.  Then I rolled, cut, and attached pink elephant ears on either side, and used an edible Foodwriter pen to draw on the eyes.  For the balloon, I shaped it out of pink fondant, and then formed floral wire into a spiral and stuck it into the bottom of the balloon while the fondant was still moist.  Then I let both the elephant and the balloon dry for the rest of the week.


Helen requested a vanilla cake with strawberries and whipped cream.  I had already made this exact combination a number of times but with different vanilla cake recipes - first for my son's Superman birthday cake, then a year later for my son's Spiderman birthday cake, and then again for my cousin's blue whale baby shower cake - but in my opinion they were all too dense.  I was searching for a really fluffy vanilla cake instead.  I decided to go with Sweetapolita's recipe once more, but instead of adding the whipped cream to the batter at the end, I decided to try using sour cream.


Once the cake had baked and cooled, I set out to assemble it, alternating layers of cake, freshly whipped cream, and sliced strawberries.


Then I whipped up a batch of cream cheese buttercream, colored most of it pink, and applied a quick crumb coat of frosting.



I let it set a bit in the fridge, before applying a second coat of frosting.  Next I used white cream cheese buttercream to pipe the baby's name on the side of the cake, and also piped little dots in sets of four all over the cake.  To finish it off, I piped a white beaded border along the bottom of the cake.


And finally, I added the fondant elephant topper!


Then it was time to bring it to the baby shower!  Stay tuned for the rest of the pink and white desserts that I made for the shower!





Congratulations, Helen!  Little Marni is so precious and adorable! :)

***
Update - To see the other goodies that I made for the dessert table, click here!

45 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. @Helen Y. - you're SO welcome!!! :) hugs and kisses to little marni!

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  2. looks so yummy! and the elephant is ADORABLE.

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    1. @Emily - thank you! the elephant was so much fun to make!

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  3. Im looking for baby shower cake ideas for a friend of mine, this is super cute!

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  4. Lucky baby shower-goers. Saw this on FG and just had to come and say how precious I think it is! Baby elephants :)

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    1. @Chew Out Loud - thank you! so glad you found me via foodgawker! :)

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  5. Listen, your elephant themed tutorial is great. but I think the best part here is that you teach how to make the adorable baby elephant.

    THANKS!

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  6. This is lovely, I'd love to have a cake this nice for a baby shower. And what a sweet name, love Marni!

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    Replies
    1. thanks @Alayna ! and yes isn't marni a super cute name? :)

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  7. Fantastic! I am throwing a baby shower for my niece, and I would love to bake a cake like this for her. I am at the early stages of planning, as I am still looking at baby shower invitations, but I still need a theme. I love your cake, so hopefully, I can figure out a way to incorporate it. Maybe, I should bake it this weekend for myself, so I can be even more inspired! ;) Thanks for sharing.

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    1. @Joan Price - that's awesome! i can't wait to see how your cake turns out!

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  8. This cake is super cute, i love it!! "less is more" is the best phrase for this cake!

    I discovered your blog recently... all your cakes are amazing!

    Sorry for my english, i hope you understand the meaning of my words :)

    Greetings from Uruguay!

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    1. @Muriel Castro - thank you so much for he lovely comments! :)

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  9. Hi! Do you use Crisco Shortening when you make your cream cheese buttercream frosting so it would hold it's shape and not melt especially during summer? I've been doing this recipe for awhile but I am having a not so happy feedback about it since using Crisco gives the frosting a "greasy" feeling when you eat the cake/cupcake.Thank you in adv for your reply..Best regards!

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    1. @Cielo - no i avoid using shortening because i think it's gross! haha :) i use real butter, even when recipes call for shortening.

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  10. How was the cake with the sour cream at the end? Did it come out light and fluffy like you wanted? I wanted to make a cake like this for my nephew's birthday next month and this looks so good!

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    1. @Jen - yes, the sour cream made it light and fluffy! just what i wanted! can't wait to see your cake, i'd love to see pictures!

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  11. do mind sharing this strawberry recipe?

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  12. Can you share your strawberry cake recipe?

    Thank you,

    Julia B.

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    1. @Anonymous - hi julia, i used this recipe for the cake itself:
      http://sweetapolita.com/2012/08/whipped-vanilla-dream-cupcakes/
      then made fresh whipped cream layered with sliced strawberries for the filling. enjoy!

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  13. Thank you Michelle! I can't wait to make this cake? Thanks for sharing. I have one more question...did you purchase an elephant cookie cutter to make the elephant shape?


    Julia B.

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    1. @Julia B. - nope i didn't use a cookie cutter for the elephant. i just started out with a blob of fondant and shaped it with my hands.

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  14. Your cake is adorable! I want to do something like it for my daughter's first birthday. I usually make marshmallow fondant and tint it with food coloring but I usually don't get the color I'm looking for. What did you use to get the right color for your fondant?

    Megan

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    1. @Megan - i used gel-based food coloring from americolor, like these:
      http://amzn.to/1aKeZVF

      hope that helps!

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  15. Michele, thanks for joining the cake extravaganza – I am simply blown away by all the fantastic cakes – and extremely hungry! Cheers

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  16. Love this cake!!! how did you get you elephant so smooth?

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    1. @Anonymous - thank you! i just kept smoothing the fondant with my fingers and that seemed to work!

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  17. what letter u use ?? im trying to figure out the mane or that writing

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    1. @Anonymou - do you mean what do the letters on the cake spell? they spell out "marni", the name of the baby. i used a small round tip and cream cheese frosting to pipe them on the side of the cake.

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  18. The elephant is adorable!!! How did you color him?

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    1. @Anonymous - thank you! i used americolor black to color him. just add a few drops to the fondant and knead it in.

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  19. I am making this cake topper for my daughter's baby shower this Saturday. I thought the wire for balloon went through elephant's nose, but I don't think it does, did you just place it next to it? Thank you!

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    1. @Mary Blaize - i don't have the wire going through the elephants trunk, i just have the trunk resting on one of the spirals of the wire :) good luck!

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  20. S/He's so fluffy I'm gonna die! :D I love everything about this so much. You are one talented human. :)

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  21. Hi, is the floral wire sturdy enough to hold up the balloon, and how do you attach it to the elephant's trunk? It looks like it might tip over.

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  22. Very well written I appreciate & must say good job.... please continue your blog

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