brevet

I was commissioned to make cake for a baby shower, with the main cake a specific design request. The mom and sister of the mom-to-be fell in love with a cake that is surrounded by Pirouette cookies (and a duck on top)--I'm sure you've seen it--there's also that pig cake surrounded by KitKats. I said it was totally do-able and was excited to figure out how I would adapt it (as most of the example photos I could find were of a bathtub idea, rather than a pond idea, and we wanted outdoorsey).

We decided three 'ponds' would be enough cake (50 folks were invited, many from the area who have eaten my cake before...) and hammered out details of the theme of the party. We settled on 'All God's Creatures' and then could run with the animal theme. 

The cakes I baked and put in the freezer earlier in the week, so there would be less rush to get everything done. I knew it would take all of Friday to decorate, so I didn't want to also be baking, too. Plus the mess...

I made the main cake three layers (with jam filling) to accommodate the cookies (which I still had to trim a bit, else it would have looked waaaay off). Plus my go-to yellow cake recipe is normally for two 9" pans and I made it in 8" pans, so three worked out well. 

Just so you know, it takes two cans of Pirouette cookies to go all the way around.

Then it was on to the small ponds*. I had five baby ducks** and one mama duck and knew I had to put mama on one of the small ponds, as she would have looked out of place on the main cake. So one pond I kept simple and made a circle of fondant pond weed and little flowers. And two baby ducks.

The second pond I added more frosting flourishes and placed the mama and a few fondant lily pads. Then, in a burst of inspiration, I added a little wake to each duck to show movement (and to anchor the duckies a bit) and to make them all swimming together.

Then it was the nerve-wracking point in the process of transporting the cakes. Fortunately, it's a pretty straight shot to church from my house, so there was little to truly worry about (but I did anyway...).

Once there, I set them up and then jumped in to help with the other food set up that was partway done. Then the mom-to-be arrived and all too soon, it was time to party!

I didn't get any photos of the cakes cut, so I'm afraid I can't show you the inside--everyone wanted the main cake, too, so it was completely wiped out before I could even think about a photo!


*Two 9" chocolate cakes.
**All rubber.