Happy first birthday Jack!  For Jack’s first birthday, his party theme was “Jack In The Box”-so cute!  I was tasked with making the cake.  I had a few parameters, it needed to be square and it needed to be colorful.  I wanted to keep the cake elegant but still appropriate for a kids party.  I think I achieved that goal!  I kept the cake simple, clean, cheerful and fun.

I covered the cake board with tons of colored wedges of fondant and let that dry overnight. I rolled out different colors of fondant and used different textured mats to create some interest on the triangle bunting pieces.  After adding the texture I cut out lots of triangles.  I used a clay extruder to create the twisted rope and attached it to the cake with some sugar glue.  I used a shell border fondant mold to make the borders all around the cake.  I think it gives the cake a really authentic, childlike, old fashioned cake look.

I added some texture to the “number one” before cutting it out of blue fondant.  The Jack In The Box was really fun to design.  I just made him up as I went, trying to keep him cute and playful.  I made his collar from 2 blue fondant star shapes.  I used a clay extruder to make the hair, but I twisted each piece before attaching it to his head.  Happy first birthday Jack!

My niece told me that she wanted a Frozen (as in Disney’s Frozen) birthday cake for at least 6 months.  The movie came out just around her 4th birthday so there wasn’t enough time for the obsession to begin.  Last year she asked for a Pirate and Princess Cake, and the year before that I can’t remember what I made her.  For her 2 year old party she was too tiny to decide so her mom requested a Dora and Diego Cake for her to share with her cousin.

Now I did use a shortcut on this cake just like the last Frozen Cake I made.  I bought figures, little toys, made by Disney to attach to the cake.  This saved me tons of time and the kids get to keep the toys after the party is all over.  I see it as a win-win!

I drew the letters of “Abby” on a piece of paper in a Frozen-esque  fashion and then attached crystal sugar to the letters.  I used tylose glue (tylose poweder mixed with water) painted on each letter and then dumped a whole bunch of sugar on the letters before attaching them to the cake.

Here’s an obligatory close up of Olaf, since I know he is everybody’s favorite!

I put Anna and Elsa as the cake toppers.  They are surrounded by gum paste snowflakes that I glittered with some crystal sugar.  I added a big number “5” beside them that was also glittered with crystal sugar.  Abby couldn’t wait to snatch them off the cake, but we made her wait to blow out her candles first.

Can I just talk about these fondant icicles for a minute?  I am obsessed with them!  I had the idea of an icicle cake and found one with a tutorial on cake central.  But I kind of made up my own method anyway.  I rolled each icicle by hand and attached them to the cake, one-by-one.  The icicles were able to hang down off the bottom tier because I placed a smaller and short cake as the base cake layer.  The bottom tier is a 7 inch cake covered in white fondant and sugar crystals.  Then I placed an 8 inch tall tier to that base and covered it in ice blue fondant.  I love this effect; it gives the cake an illusion of lightness.

Here is another look at the hanging fondant icicles, just because I’m basically obsessed with them!  Happy 5th Birthday Abby!