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Original poster

How on earth do I make a mermaid cake?!

23 replies

arfishyheauheauheau · 03/12/2006 10:47

DD's 4th birthday is in 2 weeks. I thought we were getting an ice-cream cake (will be v.hot in Sydney) and have been very relaxed about it - choose design, order it, cough up small amount of cash and have fab cake/pudding for party.

Today just clarifying design with DD she said, "oh no - it's got to be a proper cake, like a mermaid" - me - "you mean a lovely ice cream cake with a mermaid design". DD - "No, I want a proper cake"

Aaaaaaaarrrggghhhh. How on earth do I make a mermaid cake????

OP posts:
WigWamBam · 03/12/2006 10:49

Would this be do-able?

ISawTortoiseKissingSantaClaus · 03/12/2006 10:49

one here

TooTickyDoves · 03/12/2006 10:49

here's one You could always make it a little less lurid, but the basic idea is good

ISawTortoiseKissingSantaClaus · 03/12/2006 10:50

snap WWB!!!

TooTickyDoves · 03/12/2006 10:51

Well, great minds think alike

ISawTortoiseKissingSantaClaus · 03/12/2006 10:51
Grin
Katymac · 03/12/2006 10:53

Make a cake in a pudding basin
Cut a hole in he middle and put a doll in
Cover cake with icing
Cover doll(bodice) with icing and carry it on over the pudding with a tail shape

Decorate the bottem of teh pudding cake with "seaweed" "shells" made out of icing

WigWamBam · 03/12/2006 10:53

Dh would say that fools seldom differ, but I prefer the Great Minds one ...

Original poster
arfishyheauheauheau · 03/12/2006 11:36

Ooooh. Great ideas. Thanks all.

I'm quite tempted with katymac's idea. Seems effective without the scary oblong into 350 mermaid pieces cutting malarkey.

Will keep you posted......

OP posts:
Katymac · 03/12/2006 11:37

Put shells again at the waist to hide the join...

WigWamBam · 03/12/2006 11:48

What about an ordinary birthday cake with a Barbie mermaid on top ... like {link{http://www.cakeworkscentral.com/scrapbook/mermaidcake.htm\this}? You need to scroll down a little bit.

WigWamBam · 03/12/2006 11:49

Ahem ... link

BethleCAM · 03/12/2006 11:54

A friend made my dd a mermaid cake for her 7th birthday.

It was made up of 2 blocks of cake one on top of the other (the top one smaller), both covered in green icing and shaped into "rocks". She then made 3 small mermaids from different coloured pliable sugar icing, laying around the rocks. Also made seaweed and sea anemones and a few little fishes. The overriding colours were green, blue, with flashes of red and yellow. It was completely fab, looked good from all sides and everything was edible. The finishing touch was to sprinkle the whole thing with edible glitter so it looked like an underwater world fantasl land.

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 21:15

I know I know! dd1 had one for her 5th and it was fab (though i say it myself) and very easy.

take an ordinary round cake, sandwiched with icing (or jam, or whatever). get some ready-made white fondant icing, drop some blue colouring into it and knead it until nicely marbled in shades of blue (ie stop before the colour becomes uniform). roll out the icing into a big enough piece to more than cover the cake, drape it over, folding it loosely a bit at the edges, as necessary - remember its meant to be the sea so perfection not required. the next bit sounds weird and was discovered virture of disasters with my chocolate rice krispie cakes. melt a big bar of chocolate - or even 2 - in a bowl over water, put a tiny drop of water into the chocolate, this is usually wrong - but what it does is make it go kind of dull and cracked and it doesn't melt into liquid - goes more like play-dough. it makes an ideal material for a rock. make it into a rock shape and plonk (or place stylishly) on your cake. next take a very cheap £1.99 fake barbie (you get them in newsagents and Londis's). remove all her clothes and rip her legs off . fashion a long fish tale from icing (either some left over marbled blue, or you could marble it green). use something curved to mark a scallop/fish scale effect. plonk doll torso and tale together on the rock. finally, get a wee bit of icing (pink if you can be bothered) and make a shell-shape to protect fake-barbie's modesty. for added fun you can do this whilst drunk with your dh. You might even get unbelievably lucky like I did and find in your local Londis (next to said fake Babrie) a fishing game with several plastic fish and a shell or two for added decoration.

hatwoman · 03/12/2006 21:16

wigwambam's was the one we tried to copy! it ws brilliant fun to make

heavenlyghosty · 03/12/2006 21:19

Arfy ... go and get an Australian Women's Weekly Kids Cake book (the new one) ... it has a fabulous mermaid in it ...
The AWW cake books are fool proof - If I can do them, anyone can .....

Honestly, you won't be disappointed

LemonTart · 03/12/2006 21:22

ghosty - totally agree. I never bake the cake - buy a load of madeira or choc loaf cakes, stick together with buttercream and use the Aussie books step by step ideas.
Would love to be brave enough to do the Carousel one day - when the kids are about 18

PollyannaInExcelcis · 03/12/2006 21:25

there is a really easy and impressive mermaid cake in this book

heavenlyghosty · 03/12/2006 21:27

The Aussie books rock don't they Lemontart
I even back the cake (the Butter cake recipe in the bake - perfect every single time)
I have done the Train (when DS was 3) but turned it into a Thomas, the Number 4 (put Bob the builder bits on it), the Castle of Darkness (5th Birthday) ... 6th Birthday was a cricket bat (from my friend's old AWW Kid's cake book) and 7th was the Rugby Union Pitch ... All bloody fabulouse ...
DD's have been the Number 1 (in pink), a fabulous butterfly (from friend's old one again) and for her 3rd I am doing a Dolly cake (Barbie with the cake as a skirt)
I love doing them and thanks to AWW I am getting inventive too and don't always do the exact cake but a variation ....

LemonTart · 03/12/2006 21:31

Definitely my favourite cook book too ghosty (and I have loads )
It is just magic sitting down with the birthday child a week early and letting them go through the book and decide on their cake. Already a nice little family tradition.
I have done their goergous jungle one with flake tree trunks, jelly snakes etc, the Barbie dress one a couple of times (most popular by far). I did the number one with the frogs for my dad (!!) and did the pirates dagger one for DD?s school pirate party. Would love a go at the galleon ship!!

Skribble · 03/12/2006 21:31

Google images for ideas

heavenlyghosty · 03/12/2006 21:35

My friend did the galleon - it was fantastic ....

We have that tradition too ... except this year DS started looking in September, when I bought the new bigger book, and wrote a list of what he might like (from the Echidna, to the galleon. He also thought he might like a Lightsabre which isn't in the book but I was prepared to have a go!) ... In the end he went for the Rugby field and it was a piece of cake - pardon the pun!

Original poster
arfishyheauheauheau · 10/12/2006 23:35

Wow! Thanks all. I'm making it this week. I will post a photo when I'm done. I'm going to go and check out the AWW cake book too. I love Australian Women's Weekly recipes, used to buy them in the UK. In fact, I think I probably already have this in storage there. No use to me there, so I'll go and get another.

I've bought the most ginormous cake tin to store it, some modelling paste and moulds for shells & starfish. I've got a mermadia doll for the body too.

Thanks all! Very helpful. I'm "working from home" on Friday, so that's the day. Last time I did DD's birthday cake it took all day, I broke the food processor and pebbledashed the kitchen ceiling with cake mix. So, should be fun.

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