My daughter Gabrielle would've been Gabriel had she been a boy. But she shares the same nickname as the birthday boy - Gaby! (but with an "i") The birthday boy was having an owl-themed 1st birthday celebration, and I got to make his birthday cake, cupcakes and cake pops.
First, the cupcakes. The cupcakes are my favourite flavour - lime, frosted with lime Swiss meringue buttercream. I used a drop of electric green for the frosting, to visually give the guests a hint to the flavour of the cupcakes. I used to make these cupcakes with key limes, but zesting and juicing 20 small tiny little limes for a dozen cupcakes was just too time consuming. I was traumatized after the six dozen I made for my sister's wedding! So, now I just use regular ol' limes, but they still taste just as refreshingly tart.
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| Lime Cupcakes |
To top the cupcakes, I made frog and monkey heads out of fondant. Wait a sec, it's suppose to be an owl-themed party right? How do frogs and monkeys tie in with the theme? Well, technically they don't. The Frog and Monkey are two of the birthday boy's most favourite stuffed toys! The frog is silly-looking because he's so flat! The actual frog stuffed toy is flat too, because one day, the birthday boy's daddy desperately needed a cushion for his back and the frog was the only thing he could find!
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| Frog and Monkey cupcake toppers |
The cake pops are red velvet cake, swirled with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and dipped in melted white chocolate dyed blue with candy oil. Never use water or gel food colouring because this will cause the chocolate to seize and then you'll have to throw it out! For more cake pop making tips, do check out my cake pops basics page.
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| Twinkle Star cake pops |
The birthday boy's mummy wanted a star in the middle of each cake pop to match the theme. But I just couldn't help myself and I drew cute faces on each fondant star to match the big one on top of the cake! I used an edible black food colouring marker for the eyes, and then I painted on some pink shimmery luster dust for the rosy cheeks. The cake pops are so cute!
Now, onto the birthday cake! The top tier of the cake is a rainbow vanilla cake. I baked up the recipe in a 6" tin and made 5 colours. But when it came time to assemble, with a vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream filling in between, the 5-layer cake was just too high!! I ended up taking the orange layer out and the cake tier was still 4" tall! (two guesses where the extra cake went. hehe.)
The bottom tier is a Devil's Food cake, filled with whipped dark chocolate ganache and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. Of all the cakes, this is still the most popular (and most delicious!) flavour! To cover the cakes, I mixed up some blue and black fondant to make a nice navy blue. The idea was to have a "night sky" as a background for the stars and the owl on the cake. I used Satin Ice fondant since the store ran out of the regular store-brand stuff that I usually use, and I must say, I'm never going back to the store-brand fondant!! Satin Ice is SO much easier to work with! It's softer, more elastic, and doesn't tear two seconds after it's draped over the cake!! It costs a little more, but it's the only thing I'm gonna use to cover cakes from now on!! (yes, double exclaimation marks)
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| Stars in the "night sky" |
Both tiers were covered in fondant stars, with a large fondant smiley star on top of the cake in the same design as the stars on the cake pops. There are also smaller shooting stars all over the top of the cake, with wires for support. The fondant toppers were all made in advance so that they had ample time to dry before they could be stood up on the cake without drooping.
There was a big brown owl on the cake too, of course, since it's an owl-themed party! The owl would probably be delicious to eat since he's made of chocolate fondant and tastes like a Tootsie Roll.
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| hoot owl fondant figurine |
Gaby's favourite stuffed toys made an appearance on the cake too. The funny flat frog is sitting with a slouch, just like the actual stuffed toy. If you look closely, you may notice that he's missing a nostril! I didn't even see that until the birthday boy's daddy pointed it out upon delivery. No worries though, as I was able to take a teeny bit of yellow fondant from one of the stars and fix up his nostril.
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| Slouching green frog |
The light blue sock monkey looks even cuter than the ones on the cupcakes, since now he has the rest of his body! I especially love the big pink heart he has in the middle of his chest. So cute. His details are drawn on with an black edible food marker.
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| lovable little sock monkey |
I added the birthday boy's name on the top tier of the cake as well as the "Happy Birthday" on the cake board, using plain font Tappits cutters for the letters. I love the simplicity of this font as it suits many occasions and looks classy and clean. There are some tricks to using Tappits, as some first time users might find them a bit finicky to work with. The most important tip is to roll the fondant out very thin, so thin that you can almost see through it. Then, press the Tappit cutter and rub it back and forth to ensure that a clean cut is made. Tap the Tappit cutter against the side of the counter so that the letter falls out. Leave the letter to dry for 5 - 10 mins as it is much easier to handle once it's a little bit dry. Then you won't have to risk tearing it or getting it out of shape while handling it.
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| clean font lettering |
To add dimension, I added a quilted texture on the background behind the name and on the cake board, using a straight-edge ruler and a fondant quilting tool. Fondant ribbons around both tiers and a few cloud accents finished off the cake.
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| Gaby's 1st Birthday Cake |
Gaby's mummy put together this fantastic dessert table. "Everything DIYed. Designed, planned and made by Mel!" Seriously, I think mothers are awesome. All this time and love and effort put in to make sure that their little one has an extra special birthday celebration! I love love the hand-sewn stuffed owls that she made as giveaways for the guests. And the owls that form the backdrop? Those are actually reusable bags! Genius, I tell you.
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| owl & stars themed dessert table* |
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| Gaby is ONE!* |
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| Frog & Monkey lime cupcakes* |
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| red velvet twinkle star cake pops* |
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| fondant figurines, still smiling ;)* |
Gaby's mummy and daddy were so sweet to write me a Thank You note, with super cute hand-drawn stars and an owl on the envelope! I'm so glad that they were very happy with all the goodies I made for Gaby's 1st birthday celebration! Thank you so much, mummy Melissa and daddy Zack, for giving me creative freedom and letting me part of Gaby's special day! Happy 1st birthday, baby Gaby!
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| Happy 1st Birthday, cutie Gaby!!* |
*photos courtesy of Gaby's mummy
Happy 1st birthday, little Gaby!
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