Tuesday, May 15, 2012

2-Year-old Farm Birthday Cake

I enjoy making cakes.  I might not be the best at it- probably partially due to my aversion to working with fondant and the good frosting that is better for decorating but doesn't taste as good-- but I still end up with some good ones.

My baby turned two yesterday and so I made him this farm cake.

I saw this and followed the instructions from Disney Family Fun with a few modifications of my own.

Luckily, my mom who I learned most of my cake skills from was in town so was able to help.
My mom helping me make the cake

I have a large chalk board that I use to put my big cakes on.  This time I covered it with some packing paper and had Alex draw some flowers on it.

Chalkboard covered with paper makes perfect base for big cakes

I made two 9-inch round cake pans, with a tiny cut off of one to connect the two cakes together. (You can read how to make the perfect box-cake mix here) I placed these on parchment paper to help with cleanliness.  I later cut the parchment paper right along the edge of the cake so it did not show.

And then I forgot to take pictures as I was busy making the cake- so refer to the original instructions if you are trying to recreate this. 

The cake is frosted green, white a blue pond.  I used licorice for the barn; I used the pull and peel kind and would peel it into 3 pieces at a time.

I used a purchased pound cake to form the barn (which I cut into the barn shape) and roughly frosted it with white and then stuck the licorice on, cutting it after each piece went on.  This was not an easy or neat process.  I also did stick a skewer right down the middle of the barn into the main cake to help it stay up.

I used Cinnamon Toast Crunch for the roof- tiling it on, starting at the edge and then working towards the middle top. 

I used three cupcakes, the tops cut off of two for ease of stacking, for the silo- these were much more difficult to frost as they kept crumbling, so it might be best to put the cupcakes in the freezer after stacking them together before frosting the outside.

For the fence, I used the melting chocolate and simply applied several blobs where I wanted the fence to connect.  I laid out the fences on a plate and stuck this in the fridge for ten minutes and they were totally solid.

The Animal Cupcakes

Duck
Beak: Half orange starburst- ripped and shaped with hand (into a V shape);  Wings: 1 yellow starburst, ripped in half and shaped for both wings,  Eyes: black frosting eyes

Cow

Ears: 1 pink starburst (ripped in half) with white frosting edge; Spots: black frosting piped on; Eyes: brown M&M's;  Nose: large marshmallow cut in half, covered with a little frosting then dipped in pink sprinkles, black frosting nostrils

Pig

Ears: 1 Starburst ripped in half, shaped; Nose: marshmallow cut in half covered with pink frosting; Eyes: M&M's

Sheep
 Wool: White frosting squirted on in circles; Head: black frosting sheep head with white eye balls

I then placed the cupcakes around the farm. 

And the birthday boy- he liked it a lot!

Here is a little video of the birthday fun.  He loved blowing out the candles and we actually relit them so he could do it again. 





Linking up with IA and Shawn, Stacy



Stacy


And these great crafting blogs
PhotobucketTodays Creative Blog


It's Overflowing

41 comments:

  1. So very cute! I can't imagine how long it took to put it all together. (PS. Is anyone a fondant fan?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some people love the stuff- but yea, never have found one I want to eat.

      Delete
  2. That is such a cute idea! You did a fantastic job and looks like Ryder was a fan!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so cute - and so fun!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great job! Love it! We relit Miyah's over and over when she turned two as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my! He is too cute! I think your cake looks great! I am so with you! I love cake decorating but hate those icings that you use to make them look pro. I much prefer the tastier icing! :-) It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for sending the video...fun to see him. WOW, he is such a doll! The cake was absolutely cute as pie!

    ReplyDelete
  7. omg that was too cute i love making cakes but I'm really bad at it but this is amazing you did great

    ReplyDelete
  8. That cake is amazing! He certainly looks super happy with it :) You should be very proud of yourself because it looks so great! And I bet it was tasty too ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh! So cute! My kids are very impressed with your cake skills! And they are all nostalgic about seeing your house in the video. We're all wishing we were there again!

    Happy Birthday to the cutest 2 year old!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. So clever! I love the cake! I bet he super loved it too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That cake is TOO awesome! Can you make mine? ;) Thanks for showing us how too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. seriously cool cake! We were just at a pirate birthday party where I saw my favorite ship cake, but a new twist- an actual pirate cake complete with 5 day old stubble!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Oh how cute! That looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. How stinkin' cute is that! It's obvious that he loved his cake, you did good Mommy!

    ReplyDelete
  15. What a great idea. Looks like he loved it, that is awesome. It is so great to have mom's around, we are never too old to have our mom's lend a helping hand :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. What an awesome dedicated mom you are - I hate working with fondant but you make it look so good! That cake turned out absolutely amazing! Happy Birthday to your little cutie! :)


    Mother's Day Snap-Happy, Network Upfront Disappointments and Mindless TV, Non-Natural Aubrey O'Day, The Hunger Games Enjoyment

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is awesome, Emmy! You did a really great job! Happy Birthday to your cutie!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Very cool! You have no idea how much your kids will appreciate you putting in this kind of effort someday...My mom baked & decorated all of our cakes when we were kids, she did amazing things - and we loved her so much for it! Makes a birthday extra-special :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Eww! Your cake decorating skills disgust me. In a "how is it fair that one person gets all the crafty talent, what about distribution of wealth here?" sort of way. Holy smokes, my friend. Can you come out next week to do a cake for my hubby? And how on earth do you make black frosting? Regardless of the amount odd haddock food coloring I add, mine always comes outa shade of grey.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awe thanks! My mom is much better than I am- but I do enjoy doing it.
      I used the Wilton Icing Colors- the little bottles of the concentrated gel. This is by far the best stuff and you can by it almost anywhere, even at the big box stores.
      Oh- but if you are using red from these gels- make sure you get the "no taste" red- otherwise it is awful. The rest of the colors don't seem to add any taste.

      Delete
  20. totally stinking adorable. I stink at cake decorating. I made a carrot cake for the hubbys birthday and it was leaning like the tower of piza. oh well, it tasted good.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hahahaha, "Whose present is this!?" LOL totally thought that before it showed up. The cake turned out so cute. He was very intrigued by it too.

    ReplyDelete
  22. When I saw this on instagram, I thought to myself - Emmy needs to do this for a living!

    Seriously - excellent job, girl! I really love the farm theme. :o) Those little animal cupcakes make me smile. You did good.

    ReplyDelete
  23. New follower! I love the cake. The hubs tries to make decorative cakes but he's not very creative.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Wow! That is one awesome cake. You do such a good jog in making cakes.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh my goodness!!! I LOVE this. I just might have to steal it for next year :-) You did a fantastic job!!

    ReplyDelete
  26. So cute! You did a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  27. I saw this on instagram and I of course was completely jealous. How do you have so much talent in your teeny tiny body??? NOT FAIR I SAY! Now, you need to tell me one thing you suck at so I can feel better about myself. GO. I'm waiting...

    Thanks for linking up my most creative friend! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  28. I looooove this so much! I'm thinking I need to do something like this for one of my girls Birthdays. Wonder which one I can talk into it. Great job mama!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Oooh that's so creative! I LOVE IT!!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Okay, that is way better than the farm cake that I made for my two-year-old back in September! Wow, good job!

    ReplyDelete
  31. you have THE BEST cakes!!! i am so very impressed.

    ReplyDelete
  32. That is such a good idea!!! You're always so creative and inspiring.

    ReplyDelete
  33. I know this is an older post, but I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU for all the detailed pics and instructions. I made this today for my Baby Girl's 2nd birthday and it was a huge hit! Karina LOVED the whole ensemble and was so excited to just sit and look at the animals today as she drank her milk! Thanks again!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see all of the comments even on older posts-- so thank you so much!! Totally made my day. As yes posts like this can take some time to put together but I love sharing and helping others.

      Delete

ShareThis