My first 3D Cake for my favorite little man!

I've been busy thats for sure! I have a number of things to catch up on my blog but don't want to overwhelm myself or any potential readers by putting them all in one post! So this post is going to focus on my amazing little boy and his big numer 3 birthday!

A few months ago, I asked little man what he wanted for his birthday and he said "Cake". Of course he did, he is my son after all. So as a follow up, I asked what kind of cake and his answer was equally obvious.."Fire truck Cake", being that he is also my husbands' son! So of course, if I'm going to make a fire truck cake, I'm going to make it a 3D cake, cause it's cooler that way!



I started searching through some of favorite baking blogs and websites and found some great examples of 3D cakes! I so admire the skills some people have in cake & cupcake decorating! I hope to be half as good someday! Practice, practice, practice!

I also bought a book I found on clearance at Barnes & Noble called Planet Cake. It teaches you all about doing carved and 3D cakes. I loved it and it made it look so simple! Their biggest trick, which really isn't a trick I'm gathering from the other baking sites, is to cover the cake in ganache as opposed to buttercream. All I can say is WOW!! I have so much more confidence working with the ganache because its so easy to work with! It hardens up but is easily molded and repaired! I haven't quite got the knack of getting a smooth buttercream finish yet (but have some ideas from some youtube videos) so this was a godsend! Once you don't have to worry about your base so much, you can spend more time focusing on the fondant!





It certainly wasn't the most amazing piece of work but for the birthday party and my little man...it was a hit! And, I was very proud to show it off (being the perfectionist I am about this kind of stuff, that says a lot!)



Now I've got the baking bug again! I was looking at a dismal week of no baking until I volunteered to bake 5 dozen cupcakes for a fundraising bake sale to benefit our local animal shelter. I'm looking forward to that....I've already started my attempt at making some cute little puppy faces to top them with. I originally was going to make plain ole' (and amazingly delicious) chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting...but I think I'm going to expand it to include chocolate with peanut butter frosting, confetti cupcakes (plain white cupcakes with confetti baked in...no not REAL confetti...edible of course silly) with vanilla frosting and chocolate dipped strawberry cupcakes (the tops are dipped in ganache, I bet they'll be awesome!). And then of course, a good friend of mine has a birthday this week so I'm going to make her a cake. The design of which I'll share once she gets to see it!

Anyways....I've obviously filled my once bake-less week up and can't wait to get started!

Thursday I want to share my organization of our Finances as we get prepped up to start a Dave Ramsey-ish plan (thanks for the inspiration I found over on A Bowl Full of Lemons! Also results of the cutest crochet hat pattern ever! I'm so addicted I'm making one for every little baby girl I know...which is a lot. Thanks to The Dainty Daisy for sharing her pattern! See you then!