Seth's Adventure Time birthday cake

This week, our son turned ten. TEN!! I'm still a little in denial that my baby is only a few short years away from becoming a teenager. Each year, I make a special cake based on something they really love...it's purely their choice and usually the cake discussions begin at least 11 months in advance (or the day after your birthday if you're Eme). Seth currently has two cartoon obsessions...Phineas and Ferb, and Adventure Time. I was really hoping to create an Agent P cake (love me some Perry the Platypus), but no. Seth wanted Jake and Finn. If you're not sure who Jake the dog, and Finn the human are...do yourself a favour and avoid it like the plague ask your kids. Seriously, I wonder if the writers are on smack...it's pretty out there! However, who am I to deny my son his birthday cake. I'm a good mum like that (sometimes).

Like last year's "Ninjago" cake, I searched for inspiration on Pinterest and google first...images of the characters themselves, and cakes other people have made.  There's some AH-MAZ-ING Adventure Time fondant covered cakes out there, and I'm not about to even try to replicate them. I stuck to what I know best...cakes on boards covered in frosting. I printed out an image on A3 paper, and trimmed around the outline, ready for cutting out the design on the cake. Normally, I would bake, but this week I have been struck down with the flu and had to resort to buying an un-iced sponge from the supermarket. To get the size cake base I needed for the design, I trimmed four round sponge cakes, square, and joined them together with frosting. Hey, sometimes you have to get creative! Decorating with frosting is a little like painting by numbers...section off the areas and work on one colour at time, leaving the white for last.  I normally outline my cakes with trimmed licorice at the end, however this time I experimented with black writing icing. It was definitely much quicker, though my hand wasn't too steady thanks to my carpal tunnel. It didn't matter though...it's the effort that counts...

...and here's the finished cake based on this drawing!

Seth was thrilled! Not only did his cake end up looking like the actual characters (yes, Jake the dog really does look like a zombie-eyed piece of toast), the bought sponge was really tasty too. Phew!

...and just because mumma is a little anal about these things...I colour coordinated the candles to the frosting...hoping they'd disappear. I hate sticking candles into a character cake! lol.

Seth had a fabulous birthday (more on that in another post), and the planning has begun for the next birthday cake. Sweet!

Do you make special cakes for your children? What inspired the last birthday cake you made?