Today I'm sharing a Baby Einstein 1st Birthday Cake.
This cake is special because just last year, I did the wedding cake and cupcakes for Olivia's mom and dad's wedding! I also did her aunt's wedding cake. I hope I don't sound like a crazy cake-stalker, but it's fun being a part of a family - getting to do birthday cakes from one year to the next ... or doing a wedding cake, then their baby's first birthday cake.
Am I weird? Don't answer that.
Anyway, so let me tell you about this Baby Einstein 1st Birthday Cake. It was a small cake - an 8" round vanilla cake with cream cheese buttercream.
I used homemade marshmallow fondant for all of the decorations except the red and black fondant - they were both Satin Ice Fondant.
For the caterpillar, I made large cake balls (recipe here, just skip the sticks), then I wrapped them in fondant. I thought about dipping them, but it was much easier to chill them then wrap them in the fondant. I used lollipop sticks and melted chocolate to secure them in place.
I used the "1" cutter from this Fox Run number cookie cutter set to make the number on top and I used small flower cutters to cut out the flowers, then used a small ball tool to give them shape!
I used my favorite FMM Tappit Letter Cutters to do Olivia's name - you can see my tutorial for how to use the Tappit Cutters here. I hand cut the blades of grass - then used a silicone pearl mold to do the border (tutorial coming soon and I'll add the link!).
And that's it, I think! This was a fun little cake to do and it was my very first Baby Einstein Cake!
Do you have any questions? I love to hear from readers, so leave me a comment!
Nicole
Love the cake! But the link for the silicone pearl mold takes you to Amazon's "Polaroid Camera" search page.
Rose
Thanks Nicole - I got that link fixed! Here's the correct one for you too: Silicone Pearl Molds.
Debbie W
What a great idea to use cake balls for the caterpillar! Yummy cake is better than a huge ball of fondant. Not as heavy too. 😉
Pretty awesome that you're the family baker. I think it's fun being there for the wedding and then for the babies that follow. My sis-in-law is a photographer and she has several families that she's part of in that way too.
Rose
Thanks Debbie! I really thought I'd dip the cake balls in chocolate at first, but then realized how big of a pain it would be to make that many different colors of chocolate when I already had fondant in all the colors.
Kim
Rose, the cake balls on the caterpillar are so perfectly round. Well done!
I sent you an e-mail a while back about the Food Network, but I know how busy you get, so I am not sure if you've read it yet or not. So I will tell you now what I sent.
Have you ever considered entering yourself in one of those baking programs on the Food Network? They have those amazing programs with competitions between pastry chefs, cake shop owners, wedding cake bakers, etc, and they compete for theme-based cake creations. If I'm not mistaken, the contestants are permitted to bring an assistant with them in the competitions too. I think you would be awesome...You're so creative and think so quickly on your feet. Check it out!!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-challenge.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/cupcake-wars.html
Rose
Thanks so much Kim! I vaguely remember getting that email but it must have been during a busy time and gotten pushed down in my inbox possibly never to be seen again (ha!). I've briefly thought about applying to one of those competitions but I get so nervous thinking about it, I'm sure I'd never be able to follow through! But thank you that you think I'd be good at it... that's very sweet!
Layla M
wow
I like the colors
U r so creative !!
Rebecca
Rose,
This blog is the sweetest! We love your cakes. You're the greatest and hope you can do many more in the future! 🙂
Thanks for everything!
Caren
This is beautiful. Pls how do you make your decorated cake clean. ie, there is no fondant mess. Thanks.