Baby Cakes

I was incredibly excited to make my niece's first birthday cake. First of all,  I really love bright colors and cute animal pictures on cakes, so I was delighted when my sister found a really cute owl cake picture online and asked me to re-create it. I've scoured the web for this picture to give a shout out for the general idea, but I can't find it anymore online. I did use that picture for inspiration, but since my brother-in-law and nieces' birthday are a day apart, I did a combo cake.


                                   
Since my brother in law is a police officer, I made his "middle feathers" blue and gave him a little sheriff's badge. The pink cartoon owl is my adorable niece Jorden. The cake is banana chocolate chip, and the frosting is cream cheese tinted bright yellow. I made the owls and the tree branch out of  fondant.

            I was informed that  it's customary for a first birthday to have a "smash" cake, for the little tyke to demolish whilst leaving the main party cake still edible and sans baby drool for everybody else involved. I made a small 3 inch cake with the spare batter from the larger one, and covered it in white fondant and pink flowers. I used Wilton brand sparkle gel as the dots inside the flowers. The freaky google-eyed owls in front of it really kept with the theme of owls. Although, it was somewhat difficult for JC to "smash" her cake with the impenetrable fortress of fondant that encased it, it was hilarious to watch her bash at it!

    And there's the birthday girl/boy! He had to struggle to keep her from smashing both cakes before we could get some pictures of Auntie Kala's efforts.