Wish me luck - I'm about to do a dry run of DD's birthday cake!

[fruitbeard]

She wants a Mr Men cake. Not just any frikkin' Mr Men cake, a 3D representation of: Mr Tickle, Mr Bump, Little Miss Sunshine and Little Miss Lucky... (I drew the line at Mr Tall)

The plan is to custmise 4 cakes like this: here with arms and legs, coloured as necessary, stick them on a board iced to look like grass, each with a cupcake with a candle in front of them like they're having a picnic (she'll be 4).

Which leaves the take-home cakes - I thought of doing a bastardisation of these and am going to have a go this morning.

I'm not sure if I'm being horribly over-ambitious here, so thought a dry run would be a good idea, if only so I can get over myself and give them a bit of iced sponge instead....

Will post a photo later (unless they're rubbish in which case I shall just slink off quietly and forget I ever made this post....)

OMG! You are mad!

Good luck!!!

I wouldn't bother with a dry-run (cost a fortune in icing for one thing!) I'd just make it using a madeira sponge which will keep for at least a week, as will fondant icing. Then if it's ok you can leave it done and if it doesn't work you've still got a week to do another one.

I wish you luck - DD1 has asked for a pirate ship b'day cake for Sunday. I've bought the Lakeland cake tin, and I and MIL will be attempting it on Friday

Agree with Tink - Just make it.

Good Luck!!!

Just realised my op might be confusing - I'm doing a dry run of the little ones only - I have no intention of making the big cake twice (am mad, but not insane as yet)!

Plus I have loads of bits of coloured fondant that never got used at Christmas so am going to use that up - DD and DH won't care what colour the trial ones are as long as they're edible!

But the battery on my scale has just died (wah!), so I'm off to the shops first.... will report back later.

Poledra - good luck with your pirate cake - sounds excellent!

Please can we have feedback on pirate ship cake (and how good the cake tin is) as I'm thinking of buying it.

OK, chatname will do - party is on Sunday, so some time after that I will report back . Have put this thread on Watch to remind me.

Well, I did it!

And now I've washed the dye pastes out of my fingernails, have decided that the partygoers are getting a plain, pink-iced sponge topped with sweeties for their party bags...

But the 'candles' cake will consist of 4-5 Mr Men having picnic as described before.

Pic at the bottom of my profile - it's not a wonderful photo as my digital camera has gone for a walk so used my webcam to take it, but I'm quietly pleased with the first attempt...

What d'you reckon?

I like them, they're sweet!

Definately do those for the candles cake, a simple iced sponge sounds easier for take home cake though.

Hello, chatname, I'm ba-ack! Pirate ship cake was a roaring success with DD and her friends (photos on profile now). From my point of view, the cake from the tin was so detailed that it seemed a shame to put any icing on it, so we only iced the sides (with butter cream icing) and then stuck on Rolos for cannons and chocolate fingers to make the rails. I also invested in the Cake Release stuff that Lakeland sell, and would definitely recommend that - don't know how the cake would have come out the tin without it. Bizarrely, the cake recipe given on the card with the tin was for a plain sponge, not chocolate so we replaced some of the flour with cocoa powder. It was an OK sponge cake, not as light as I would like but it was probably necessary that it was a bit heavier in order to maintain its shape. Generally, though, I would say the cake tin was a success and one of the other mums has asked to borrow it for her DS's birthday soon . Any more info you would like to know, just ask.

I am everyone's cakes look better than mine

Must get practising!!

Poledra, that looks absolutely fantastic! Wow!

Have often been tempted to buy those shaped tins from Lakeland (the bugs and butterflies one in particular) but haven't been sure if it would be worth it... but that looks wonderful!

Lucysmam, your Noah's Ark cake looks brilliant - don't do yourself down!

Wow!
Mr Men and Pirate ship cakes are both fab.

Need to do a mermaid cake for DD's 4th birthday. Any tips?

V impressed! (yep, want pirate cake )

Thank you, thank you all, my public .

Seriously though, it was a doddle with the cake tin - this is my first foray into 'fancy' cake making and I rather think Lakeland can take a lot of credit (and my lovely MIL, who has had heaps more experience than me). Thus, I have no tips to offer blametheparents as I am, in fact, a fraud .

FWIW, I think the Noah's Ark and Mr Men cakes are lovely and far more impressive as you did all that yourselves.

Thank you all too for your kind comments

blametheparents, there are 2 ways of going about it. Either do it in 2D (ie flat on the cake board by making a big square/oblong sponge and then carving it into mermaid shape) or, my preferred option, make it like you're doing a Princess cake and instead of making the dome bit the skirt, ice a tail on down the side of it.

I read that back and realised it doesn't make much sense, so:

Get a bell-shaped cake tin (buy/hire) and make a sponge. Make a hole in the top, get a Barbie/Ariel/Sindy dolly and bury her up to her waist in the cake. Then ice the main part of the cake blue, applying seaweed/fish/shells as appropriate, and on top of that, going from the dolly's waist and curving around the sides, ice on a fishtail. I'd make the fishtail shape out of fondant to raise it up a bit and then ice on the scales with either writing icing tubes or those squeezy pre-made icing tubes (or you could go the whole hog and make up your own royal icing but for the tiny amount you'd need, it's a faff. Also ice on a bikini top unless your dolly comes with one.

I found these links to illustrate what I'm banging on about:

[http://www.buttercreamdreams.com/cakepics/mermaid_cake.JPG Not gorgeous but it gives you an idea of the 2D Mermaid]

[http://vintagepretties.typepad.com/vintage_pretties/images/mermaid_cake.jpg 3D Mermaid]

[http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2242/2213083288_bf7e75deb4.jpg Beautiful but looks complicated!]

If you google images 'Mermaid cake' you will get tons of ideas

Oh, I'm shit at links!!

Try again:

Not gorgeous but it gives you an idea of the 2D Mermaid

3D Mermaid

Beautiful but looks complicated!

Oh, ffs!

3D Mermaid

3rd time lucky?

Thankyou fruitbeard. I am loving 'Beautiful but looks complicated!'
I think I might go for the 3D mermaid idea, though was also looking at this
It looks do-able so I might give it a go.