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This week, my nephew celebrated his 2nd birthday! I love creating character cakes, and so I offered to make a special cake just for him. His favourite cartoon at the moment is "Curious George"...that cute little monkey makes the perfect cake for a two year old little boy. I'm going to share with you how easy it is to create a character cake using a template.
Here's what we're making...
You will need:
- rectangular cake / slice tin
- circular cake board or a large plate
- 2 x your favourite packet cake mix
- 1 x tin ready made chocolate icing
- 1 x tin ready made vanilla icing
- yellow food colouring
- pink food colouring
- licorice strips
- cake inspiration photo
First up, search the internet for an image of the character you'd like to recreate. Print out several copies of your image the size you would like your finished cake to be. For this cake,
I used this image printed A3 size. Next bake your cake...bear in mind that you might need two cakes to fit your image. For this cake, I baked two vanilla cakes measuring 28x22x4cm, using a
Chef's Toolbox slice pan. Set cakes aside to cool completely.
Next, cut around the image and place it on top of your cake. Trim around the edge of the image with a sharp knife, and transfer the cake to your cake board or plate. He's taking shape already...
Next, it's time to start icing, starting with the darkest colours first. For George's hair, you will need chocolate icing. I have lightened it up a little by mixing through some vanilla icing, and a touch of yellow food colouring. Trim the hair from your image, then place the rest of the image on the cake. Spread your icing right over the top and sides of the exposed cake.
Peel back the paper, to reveal perfectly iced hair. Next, move onto the rest of the face. Cut out the eyes and mouth, and place on the cake. Your cake may look at little strange at this point, but trust me...it will work! To mix the colour for George's face, start with vanilla icing, and add in a little chocolate icing and a couple of drops of yellow food colouring. Add a little at a time and adjust until you get the right colour. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake.
Remove the paper eyes and mouth. Fill the mouth with chocolate icing, and a little pink for the tongue. Add the eyes last. You're nearly done...
This is where licorice strips become your best friend. Cut thin strips of licorice and outline the cake, adding character to his face. The licorice will bring your cake to life! There you have it...one Curious George cake.
...and one very happy little boy! Happy 2nd birthday Cameron!!
If you have a go at making your own Curious George cake, link it up to this post...I'd love to see it. Enjoy!
