Please DO NOT Feed the Gator Cake

My niece's best friend wanted an alligator/swamp themed cake for her son's first birthday, and this is what I created.  I call it my "Please DO NOT Feed the Gator" Cake.  But notice (LOL) that the turtle is trying to cover the "NOT" with a handful of mud.  Mr. Turtle wants the alligator feed so the alligator doesn't resort to eating him.

I made a smash cake for little Clayton too.  The alligator on his cake wasn't as toothy as the gator on the big cake.  I didn't want the poor little boy to be afraid of his cake.

Sorry I forgot to take pictures as I was making the fondant alligators, but I did snap a few pictures of the cake.  Here I am applying the five different shades of blue.

I use acrylic disks to get my top and side perfectly flat and the edges sharp.  I cover the disks with Glad Press and Seal wrap to make it easier to separate the disks from the cake.   Do you think the side of the cake looks like water or the sky?  I think it looks like the sky with a few fluffy white clouds.   I wasn't sure how to make it more water-like so I left it alone and didn't try to fiddle with it.

So sorry about the lack of step-by-step picture, but here is the final product again.

Happy Decorating,

Carol

Coco Cake - Inspired by the Movie

This is a cake that I made for a friend with a theme of Coco (from the Movie).  It is not my favorite cake but I guess it is okay.  The lamp post look a little too tall and wonky, and some of the light globes aren't quite round.  I also should have put more yellow in the globes to make them stand out more against the white and pale blue background.  The birthday girl's name, Maeve, should have been in a different color - it doesn't stand out enough against the cobblestone textured board.  But I do like the ribbon roses on top.

I made the Miguel figure from fondant mixed with tylose power.  I modeled the figure after the Funko version of Miguel.  I'm not very good at sculpting figures and the Funko version looked the easiest. 

I started with the face...

And then moved onto the body.  Once the body was on I placed his gum paste guitar in front of him and fitted his arms around the guitar.

For the COCO emblem, I cut the letters using a paper template, and used petals from a daisy cutter to make the narrow ovals on the "Os".

I put the COCO letter on the top tier, and added some easy ribbon roses on the top of the cake.  I made the leaves from fondant in several shades of yellow, orange, and red.

I cut the houses out by hand.  I used a strip cutter to cut the yellow molding around the door, and used a texture mat to give the roof some relief.

For the flags I used floral wooden stamps and then used a square cutter to cut the shape.

The lamp post went on last.

And then I placed Miguel in front.  I made his dog, Dante, too, but he looked so bad I didn't put him on the cake.  Like I said- I'm not very good at making figures.  

To give the cake some extra height I made a topper to mimic the swags of flags on the cake.  I cut the flags in the topper using my Cricut Explorer, hung the flags between two bamboo skewers, and added some ribbon. To match the rest of the cake the ribbon should have been darker shades of red and orange but all I had in my stash of ribbon were the paler colors.

So here is the finished cake.  I hope my friend likes it.

Happy Decorating,

Carol

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Supply List: 

Funko Mini Miguel - guide for make my fondant Miguel
Knit Weave Impression Mat - to give texture on the roof tops
PME #3 Strip Cutter - for the trim around the doors and windows of the houses
Wooden Stamp Set - to make the impression on the fondant flags
FMM Uppercase Funky Alphabet
14" Cake Drum
Cricut Explorer 2 - to cut the flags of the topper