circus carnival cake with fondant mustache baby topper

Remember this chevron baby gender reveal cake that I did for my friend Monica? Well when it was finally time for the baby shower last fall, they asked me to make the baby shower cake as well! The shower was going to have a circus theme, so Monica sent me a pictures of of circus cakes that she wanted me to replicate. The two main attractions of the cake would be the toppers - one would be a fondant baby with a mustache, and the other would be a fondant lion.

For the fondant baby, I shaped the baby's head and body out of fondant colored with ivory gel-based food coloring, and also rolled out pieces for the arms and feet. For the diaper, I rolled out a long strip and wrapped it around the baby.

And for the face, I used food markers to draw on the eyes, mustache and smile. 

For the lion, I colored fondant with orange and golden yellow food coloring, and then rolled them out. For the head I used a circle cookie cutter, and for the man I used a flower cookie cutter, but for the rest I just used a knife to cut out the shapes that I needed (the bangs, tail, ears, etc).

The cake itself was a chocolate cake, filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. You've seen me do this several times before, so I only have an instragram photo of this part :)

The top tier of the cake was a 6-inch cake, which I covered with cream cheese buttercream.

I used this basketweave tip to pipe circus-like verticle stripes with red frosting.

The bottom tier was a 10-inch cake, which I covered in blue cream cheese buttercream, and then piped a rainbow border along the bottom of the cake. (I originally only did red, orange, yellow, and green, but it ended up looking more "candyland" than "circus", so later on I also added blue to the border).

To support the top tier of the cake, I used five bamboo skewers - four of them were cut to the height of the cake for the top tier to rest on, and the fifth was full length and would go through the center of the top tier, to ensure that it didn't fall or slide off.

Then I piped large rainbow polka dots to the bottom tier, before assembling the tiers and adding the toppers. (I also added a little curl to the top of the baby's head, at the request of the mom-to-be!)

When I went to deliver the cake to the baby shower, I was blown away by all of the circus-themed decorations - everything was so adorable! From the mustache tablecloth, to the giant marquee circus letters at the dessert table, the circus-themed games, photo booth, and table decorations, everything looked perfect!

Congratulations Sofi!

chevron "beau or bow" cake for baby gender reveal

I was first introduced to Monica a few years ago, when my friend Cindy was hosting a baby shower with Monica and they asked for my help in making red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate tiaras. Since then, I have made goodies for Monica several times! There was the piggy cake and  pool party piggy cookies that I made for her daughter's birthday one year, and also a mini Hello Kitty cake a few years ago (that I haven't yet blogged about). And a couple more goodies that I haven't yet blogged about (posts to come!)

So when she asked me to make a baby gender reveal cake for her friend who was expecting, I was excited to be a part of it! And the funnest part was that only the doctor and I knew the gender of the baby, not even the parents-to-be knew! Monica had to drop off a top-secret reveal envelope at my house, which was sealed by the doctor and never opened ... until I got my hands on it! :)

Monica's friend already knew she wanted a chocolate cake that looked like this one, except with yellow chevron instead of blue. I wasn't sure if I liked that the placement of the mustache and bow and letters were at the top of the cake instead of the middle though, so I sketched it out to help me decide.

I baked up two 8-inch homemade chocolate cakes (recipe in my new book!), and sliced them in half horizontally to give me four cake layers. Then I filled them with freshly whipped cream (tinted blue or pink based on the information in the secret envelope!), and then covered the top and sides with two coats of cream cheese buttercream.

I piped a quick shell border on the top and bottom of the cake, and then got to work piping the mustache, bow, and wording.

The final touch was piping the yellow chevron - I used a Wilton #5 tip, and just kind of did a freehand chevron design.

And then it was done! I had been a little worried about the chevron coming out crooked or uneven, but in the end I thought it looked pretty good!

The only thing I wish I could re-do was the top shell border - it was a super hot day, so my cream cheese buttercream started to melt on me! Needless to say, after a few quick pictures, the cake went back in the fridge to set!

And for the gender reveal on the inside of the cake?

It's a boy!