Ali's Mermaid Party

Alicia, or Ali as she's known, loves fruity cake flavors.  I had made a cake for her sister last weekend and that one was a yellow cake with raspberry preserves, so I wanted to do something new for Ali.  I scoured the Internet for recipes and came across a bunch of cherry recipes that required cake mixes and we all know I'm a scratch baker.  After combining a few recipes, I came up with this one and just hoped beyond all hope that it would turn out.  A cherry chocolate chip cake.  Sounds good, right?

Here's the batter before it was baked.  I thought it looked so pretty.  The flecks of chocolate and the flecks of cherry with a slightly pink tinted batter.    

And here's what the cake looked like baked.  Perfect!

Ali was having a mermaid party.  She's a fan of all things Ariel, the Little Mermaid, and I just happened to be in Los Angeles the weekend before her birthday.  I went to the Disney store and picked up this gem.  It's a cute little purse-like castle and when you open it up...

 ...Ariel and Prince Eric are there with Sebastian, a dingle-hopper, a tub and a screen.  How cute is this?!!!  It would make the perfect cake topper.

Ali's invitation had the view of teal water and a mermaid tail.  I wanted to incorporate these into the cake decoration.  And here's what I came up with.  

The top tier of the cake is a chocolate cake with buttercream filling.  The bottom tier is the cherry chocolate chip cake with a maraschino cherry frosting.  I topped the top tier with some brown sugar (for sand) and placed her toy on top of that.  The outside of the cake is frosted with my vanilla bean not-too-sweet buttercream and I used some fondant accents to make some shells, a star fish and an Ariel.

 Ali couldn't take her eyes off the cake.  I just love it!

And her mom just happened to have a sparkly #4 candle that matched the design beautifully!

Ali got to play with her toy while we cut the cake.  This made my heart just melt.  She was so excited to see Ariel and Prince Eric inside!

And here's what the cake looked like on the inside.  Moist, chocolately and very much full of cherries!  YUMMY!!!

Happy Birthday, Ali!  I loved being a part of your special day!

The Little Mermaid

Danielle, Payton's mom, asked me to make a cake for Payton's 3rd birthday party. Evidently, this little soon-to-be 3-year old was a huge fan of Ariel, the Little Mermaid. I was excited to take this cake on as, like I stated in an earlier post, Ariel is my favorite Disney princess!

Danielle requested a chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling. I decided to cover the cake with more buttercream and use the fondant for fun underwater accents.

The Ariel you see on the top of the cake is a doll I picked up from the toy store. Instead of spending the time molding her out of gum paste, I thought it best to include the toy. It's something Payton can play with for many months to come (and she came with a change of clothes!! What fun!).

I hope that Payton had a wonderful 3rd birthday party! I'm sure Ariel is happy in her new home.

Part of Her World

Little Miss Clare is turning three. Her mom, Kristie, likes to pick a theme for her daughter that introduces her to a new character. Last year, you may recall, I made Clare a My Little Pony cake. This year, Kristie wanted to introduce Clare to Disney's The Little Mermaid. Ariel, being my favorite Disney princess, made this a joy to create!

I love including toys on kid's cakes. I don't know. Call me strange. But as a kid, I know that if there was something I could later play with ON the cake - that was the dream. So I went to my local toy store and scoured the princess aisle for something that I could use on the cake. I came across a miniature Ariel and two of her sisters and thought it would be PERFECT! They were the right size, but the next step was coming up with the design.

The scene of the movie that I wanted to create was Ariel overlooking Prince Eric from the rock after she rescued him from the shipwreck.

Because the rock is tilted funny, I thought this would make the perfect topsy turvy cake! And here's how the cake turned out:

The top layer of the cake is a vanilla cake with rapsberry buttercream. The bottom layer is a chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream. (Remember that if you ever create a topsy turvy cake, you absolutely have to use a denser cake. These cakes tend to be pretty fragile otherwise.)

Clare, I hope you had a fantastic birthday celebration! I also hope that you loved The Little Mermaid as much as I do!!! Thanks for letting me be part of your special day!