Elephant Birthday Cake

I'm loving elephants as a party theme right now. Even my little baby girl had an elephant-themed first birthday party earlier this year. So when Eli's mummy asked me if I could do an elephant cake for her son's 1st birthday, I was more than happy to! 

sweet blue elephant birthday cake

The top tier of the cake is vanilla butter cake, filled with vanilla bean Swiss meringue buttercream. The bottom tier is a Devil's Food Cake, filled with whipped dark chocolate ganache and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. The birthday boy's mummy wanted vanilla for the top tier so that Eli could eat some cake too!

cute little elephant topper

I made a cute little elephant to top the cake. I just love the blue and grey colour combo. I shaped his body first, and then the feet. His head is made by rolling some grey fondant into a ball, and then gently rolling one end in between your palms until a trunk is formed. Gently bend the trunk back and then leave the head to dry for a bit in a ladle (or some foam if you have it). This will keep the head nice and round instead of getting flat on one end. Attach the head onto the body with a little bit of water, with a toothpick in the middle for support. The ears are free-hand cut hearts, gently bent into shape and attached onto the head with a little bit of water. The elephant's eyes and eyebrows are drawn on with black edible food marker. 

loveable little elephant 

Before the elephant fully dried, I pre-poked a whole in his trunk. The hole is to hold up a very high balloon! I made a little balloon out of fondant with a number 1 one it, since it is Eli's 1st birthday. I added a small thin circle at the bottle of the balloon to make it more realistic. I poked a wire into the balloon and let it dry, separately from the elephant. Once both the elephant and the balloon were dry, I inserted the wire into the elephant's trunk. I just love the dramatic effect of the elephant holding a balloon with a super tall string!

super high balloon!

I used a small elephant cookie cutter to cut out elephants in different shades of blue and white to border the bottom tier of the cake. Too bad they didn't have tails! That would have been so cute if they were holding each others' tails end to end, just like real elephants. 

view from the top

I cut out triangles for the flag bunting around both cake tiers. I first cut a triangle template from some cardboard and then used that as a guide to cut out all the other triangles, to make sure that they were all the same shape. The dots and stripes on the elephants and bunting were painted on using white food colouring. I used a toothpick to make the dots, and the edge of a piece of plastic to make the stripes. 

flag bunting and pearls

To finish the cake, I added a border of pearls made of white fondant rolled into little balls around the top tier. The cake board is covered in the same shade of blue as the base of the cake, to give everything a neat finish. I really love the colours on this cake: blues, grey and white. Everything came together nicely. Here's wishing sweet Eli a very Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday, Eli!