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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