August 23, 2011

Giraffe Themed First Birthday Cake


I love how Aiden's cake turned out.  As soon as I saw the invitation for his birthday, I fell in love with the theme...I just love giraffe's!

The cake was a 9 inch White Almond Cake filled with fresh strawberries and Strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream and the top tier was a 6 inch Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Italian Meringue Buttercream.  The entire cake was covered and decorated in Marshmallow Fondant, the giraffe was made out of modeling chocolate.

Modeling Chocolate Giraffe
Ain't he cute?  I made the bottom half of the giraffe's body out of rice crispy treats that was shaped into a rounded pyramid then covered it over with modeling chocolate.  l made the modeling chocolate using the Merkens Yellow Candy Coatings (recipe for modeling chocolate found here) and added a little bit of Egg Yellow AmeriColor to it to get the right shade.  All the little details on him is Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).


The leaves were made a few day prior out of MMF mixed with Tylose (helps it dry faster and harder) and placed over wrinkled foil to give the leaves some random and natural curves to it as they dried.  I later painted the darker green leaves with white gel colors to match the ones on the invitation and trimmed the bottom of each leaf to fit flushed up against the giraffe.  I attached the leaves to the cake with a little bit of clear piping gel.


The bottom tier was designed to match the border on the invitation.  His name and the #1 on the front of the cake were made in black MMF then dusted over with blue pearl dust - I love the effect.  The white round piece behind the #1 was dusted in edible glitter.

Photo of the invitation and some of the 3 dozen Cupcake Toppers
I also made 3 dozen assorted cupcake toppers for the mommy to add to their own cupcakes.

Photo courtesy of Saira B.






6 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful!! Once again you created a master piece! Thanks for the post.
    Eftychia from Dream of Cakes.
    http://www.dreamofcakes.net

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  2. Love this cake, the little giraffe is so cute!!!

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  3. I am a wanna-be caker ;) and was searching for giraffe theme birthday cakes to make for my son's first birthday when I found your site. I have the exact same party supplies!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your work and am going to (attempt) to at least somewhat replicate it for my little guys party next week! Thank you for sharing your tips and ideas, You are truely gifted!
    Shannon

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  4. love your cake. I'm planning my baby's first birthday and I chose this theme...how much do you charge for the cake? I live in Sacramento, CA. Monica

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    1. Sorry Monica, I'm not accepting orders for cakes presently and I'm down in Orange County.

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