Late January, I was given an interesting challenge by my friend, Mistey.  She was designing a baby shower invitation for our friend, Chhunnary.  When she told me what she wanted as the theme, I was excited.  I have to admit...I am a bit of an addict, and who isn't?!  Everyone loves Angry Birds!  I just couldn't wait to bring this pastel Angry Birds jungle cake to life.

Taking cue from the invitation,  I wanted to incorporate the various birds, a nest, and an egg into a lively jungle scene.  Unlike my previous cakes, this one combined the multiple elements of cake carving, fondant and gumpaste work, and cake pops!  Yes, those little detailed birdies are cake on a stick.

Starting a week prior to the baby shower,  I cut out various leaves out of gumpaste and allowed them to dry in formers for a life-like shape.  These will give my cake canvas a burst of green foliage.  The next item that I had to create was the detailed nest.  Using a small bowl as a former, I draped a sheet of brown gumpaste over the bottom and cut it to the right height for the nest's base.  This was left to dry over the next two days. Using a dark and a light shade of brown gumpaste, I kneaded them together just enough to create wood-like swirls for twigs used in the nest.  Thin ropes in various lengths were then rolled out by hand and then shaped over a small bucket for the perfect curvature.  After the parts of the nest were dried completely,  I attached the curved twigs around the nest base with a touch of piping gel.  This stuff holds like wonder for heavier pieces!

The next item on the list that required some patience and steady hands were the Angry Birds!  I baked a 9" x 13" pan of my chocolate cake recipe and let it cool for several hours until completely cooled.  Now comes my favorite part about cake pops...DESTROY!  Yes, you bake a cake just to break it up...make sure there are no chunks.  I crumbled up half of the cake and saved the other half for the cake itself.  Once the cake was a fine crumbled mess,  I mixed in about a quarter cup of cream cheese frosting and combined with large spoon.  With my hands, I rolled out the various sizes and shape of the different birds.  A quick 15 minutes trip into the freezer helped firm them up for handling, and then were kept in the fridge to keep them cool until I coated them.  Using white candy coating and candy coloring,  I mixed up the pastel variations of the birds, and shaped the various beaks, crowns, and tails out of gumpaste.  Lollipop sticks were inserted into each bird by first dipping one end in the candy coating and then inserted in the shaped cake balls.  Immediately, I coated each one in the smooth candy coating and inserted into a florist block until the candy dried.  I then was able to attach the beaks, and feathers by dotting on candy coating with a toothpick.  Remember that huge egg?  That is actually a giant cake ball that I poured white candy coating over on a cooling rack.

The edible jungle was a 9" x 13" sheet of the same chocolate cake that I had torted and filled with chocolate bavarian cream.  Remember the other half of the cake that I had saved from the cake balls?  I torted and filled it, and placed it on top of my larger cake for more dimension.  I then carved the cake slightly with a serrated knife for a smooth hilly slope.  The entire cake was thinly iced with buttercream and then covered in a smooth blanket of rich dark chocolate fondant.  Using a small circle cutter, I imprinted a series of rock formations on the sides of the tallest corner for a little added detail.  I then rolled out a section of green fondant to place on top of the hill to create a lush jungle floor.  To add familiar elements to the cake, cereal treats were covered in a light chocolate fondant to create crates and wooden planks.  There's even a small tree trunk for one of the birds to perch on!  With the main part decorated, it was time to add the Angry Birds and the nested egg.  Did I mention how heavy the egg was?  It weighed a total of 5 pounds by itself!  Normally, OI wouldn't have to worry about support dowels in a sheet cake like this, but this was going to require some help to not squash the cake.  I figured out where I wanted to place the egg and inserted 4 cake dowels cut to the correct height.  Using some piping gel, I first attached the nest and then a small cake board cut to size sits in the nest's interior.  A dab of buttercream holds the giant egg in it place.  The birds are then inserted into the cake in various positions and the lollipop sticks are trimmed to fit.  Using a clay gun, I extruded long ropes of chocolate fondant and wound them together to create a series of vines that were attached with a brush of piping gel, and wraps around the egg.  The leaves and little blue flowers I made earlier bring this pastel jungle to life.  Congrats to Anh and Chhunnary, and welcome baby Evelyn!

There is nothing cuter than a jungle of cute baby animals... oh yes, there is!  A jungle cake with darling baby animals awaiting a new friend to arrive!  This baby shower cake was inspired by a photo that Wendy had sent me, and her only criteria was that the animals had to be cute.  I think I can pull that off.

This cake required some major time management and prepping.  A week prior to delivery, I handmade a large amount of various leaves and grass out of a 50/50 gumpaste and fondant mixture.  Making more than I needed ensured that I would have some on hand for any accidents that may occur.  "Knock on wood!"  I rolled out the green tinted mixture as thin as I could, and cut out different shapes of leaves.  I then ran a ball tool over the outer edges of the leaves for a life-like movement.

After completing the leaves,  I combined tan colored gumpaste with a small amount of dark chocolate fondant.  This was used to create the wooden message sign.  I kneaded the two colors together, but not combining them completely to create the markings and swirls found in real wood.  The mixture was then rolled out flat, imprinted with a plastic mold to create the planks of wood, and then trimmed.  This piece had to dry completely before using, so a light dusting of confectionery sugar helps.

Time for some baby animals!  First, I kneaded a small amount of 50/50 in each color that I would need.  Using an image of each animal, I hand-shaped each part of the cute little guys and assembled them with a touch of gum glue.  The elephant's head was propped on some balled-up tissue until it set in place.  Other details such as their signature tails were left to harden before I attached them because of their delicate thickness.  The elephant's ears were left to dry in a shallow flower former to ensure that they wouldn't plop over.  The giraffe was shaped around a bamboo skewer, and was left to harden with its head propped on a cup until stiffened.  The small details of the animals' manes, paws, and large eyes add the special touch of cuteness that Wendy wanted for her friend.

With the leaves and animals done, it was time to bake up the cute jungle home for them.  This cake started with a 6" round vanilla cake filled with bavarian cream.  After lightly icing the vanilla cake with a thin layer of buttercream,  a blanket of marbled white and pale blue fondant was laid down.  This looked like perfect a layer of clouds in a beautiful blue sky.  An asymmetrical strip of pale green fondant was wrapped around the bottom portion to represent grassy hills.

The bottom portion was a 10" dark chocolate cake filled with chocolate bavarian cream.  Having the option of two flavors is better than just one!  I thinly iced the cake with buttercream and smoothed on a layer of the same green fondant used on the lower half of the 6" cake.  The two cakes were then stacked on a half inch foil drum, but not centered.  I offset the cake towards one edge to further the illusion of a hill.  Once I was happy with the position of the cake, I ran a cake dowel down the two cakes and into the foil drum.  Assembly is done and here comes the fun part!  Time to decorate!

I finished the bottom of the cake with a ribbon of chocolate fondant, and rolled some out into long ropes that I twisted together to create vines.  I placed each assembled animal onto the cake and secured each one with a brush of piping gel.  The giraffe was inserted on the side, peeping out of a little bush.  More leaves and grass blades were attached with piping gel to create the jungle scene.  The elephant was the new baby, floating down from heaven on a cloud.  I rolled out white fondant and ran a veining tool over it to create cloud-like swirls.  The elephant was then attached on top.  With the animals and leaves in place, I draped and wrapped the vines around the cake.  The final piece was the wooden sign that was propped in front of the cake, and a message was piped on with buttercream.  Welcome to the world, Baby!

My friend Alani came to me and asked if I was interested in making a baby shower cake that she was throwing for her friend... "Yes!"  Why wouldn't I?

With a small number of girls attending,  I decided to make a two layered 8" cake.  The flavor chosen was a milk chocolate cake filled with strawberry puree.  For the look of the cake, it was to reflect the jungle theme.  I decided to focus on the giraffe that was used on the invitations.  I automatically had a vision of a giraffe joey laying on its tummy.  How cute!

I first started with each part of the giraffe and shaped it out of a 50/50 mixture of gumpaste and fondant.  A lollipop stick was used for the structure of the neck and head. I used a styrofoam cup to prop up the giraffe head as it dried.  I shaped the body and made indentations where the limbs would fit, and left these to harden a day prior to baking.

My basic chocolate cake recipe was used for the 2 layers of cake, which was cooled completely and placed in the fridge for 15 mins before handling.  Chocolate is the hardest cake to carve, handle, or to ice because of it's super soft texture.  Chilling it for a few minutes helps with that problem.  I torted the two layers and filled each one with a generous scoop of strawberry puree filling.  I made sure leave a good amount of chunky bits for full strawberry experience.  The layers of cakes were stacked high and leveled before I thinly iced the entire cake with a smooth, velvety buttercream.  The cake was then covered with my fave chocolate fondant and smoothed to perfection.  Green colored vanilla fondant was then rolled out thinly for the eyelet circle and various blades of grass that accented the sides.  I used a ribbon cutter to create the yellow frame around the eyelet circle for a lovely contrast of colors.  The giraffe was centered on the cake and sugar-glued into position.  To finish of the cake, a few more leaves, royal icing drop flowers, and a beading of yellow fondant around the base.  Congrats to Steffanie!

What do you do when you order a gift and it doesn't get there in time?!  You order a cake!  That is exactly what Annie did for her fiance for his birthday.  She custom ordered a baseball mitt for Brian, but it wouldn't be delivered in time for his small family gathering.  After discussing ideas with Annie, we decided on a 8" round cake topped off with a dimensional mitt that wouldn't be short of details.

The cake started with an image of the closed-web mitt, and a moist red velvet cake. The bottom cake was a 3" tall round, torted and filled with cream cheese filling.  The mitt layer of the cake was carved out of a 2" layer of red velvet.  I took a picture of the ordered mitt and sized it proportionally to the diameter of the cake and printed a template that I used to carve the cake.  I exaggerated some of the cuts to ensure that they wouldn't be lost once covered with fondant.  I then smoothed on a thin layer of cream cheese flavored buttercream over the entire cake.  The top portion of the cake received a smooth blanket of black fondant, and the bottom was covered with a wide strip of bright blue.  Using a quilting wheel, leather stitches were imprinted to create a realistic sewing pattern.  To create the closed-web look of the mitt, I weaved strips of black fondant together and then trimmed to the proper shape and size.  A mitt can't be complete with out the ball!  I used this area to pipe out a message to the birthday boy.  To finish off the cake, baseballs were cut out of white fondant and the red accents were piped on with buttercream.  Time to play ball!. . . I mean eat cake!