Sunday, October 15, 2017

curious george birthday cake with handmade fondant topper


My best friend Sue's daughter Leia turned three this past summer, and since Leia love Curious George, she asked me to make a Curious George cake for her party! Leia's only requests were: a) it was green, and b) it was chocolate. (She doesn't like "yellow cake", only "brown cake"!) So we decided on a chocolate cake filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, decorated with piped green grass frosting and a fondant George on top!

A couple of weeks before the party, I started making George out of fondant, since I knew I'd need time for the fondant to harden. So I tinted my fondant with brown gel-based food coloring, and shaped the pieces that I would need.


Next I attached the legs to the torso with a little bit of water, and used ivory tinted fondant to make his little feet (the back of a paring knife worked perfectly to make his little toes).


Next came the arms, complete with little hands.


And finally, the head!


I used an edible food marker to color in his eyeballs and lashline, and added tiny white nonpareils for the white dot in his eyeball.


Then I attached his head to his body (with a toothpick connecting the two), and then he was done! He looks a little sleepy, in my opinion, but still cute nonetheless?


Next was the cake, which I made the night before the party. I baked up two 8-inch round chocolate cakes (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!) and let them cool before slicing them in half horizontally with a serrated knife. This way I would end up with four cake layers.


Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries.



Once the cake layers were assembled, I whipped up a batch of cream cheese buttercream (recipe also in my book!) and tinted the majority of it green. Then I used an offset spatula to cover the top and sides of the cake with a quick crumb coat.



After letting the crumb coat chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, I did a smooth final coat, and then used a grass tip in a disposable piping bag to pipe the grass on the top of the cake. (see here and here for more examples of piping the grass!)


Finally I piped her name with gray frosting on the side of the cake, and placed little George on top (with a little bit more frosting on his bottom to hold him in place!).





His arms looked a little wonky, but at least Leia recognized him!



And here are some pictures from her party. So much fun!



Happy Birthday, sweet Leia! Hope you enjoyed your cake! <3 p="">

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