Yes, I’m borrowing the title of a Frozen song. But not because I actually built a snowman. Not out of snow, anyway.
That’s right, my sister and I ventured into the realm of cake decorating! (For the first time in, like, ever…. Too much? 😉 )
Dad’s birthday isn’t for another three days, but Mom took him out for dinner so my sister and I could surprise him with the cake. What with having watched so many baking videos on YouTube, my sister has had this Olaf cake idea for a while (Olaf for Dad because she’s matched each of us to Frozen characters: I’m Elsa, she’s Anna, Mom is Kristoff (I guess because they (my mom and sister) are so close), and Dad is Olaf because he likes him and his humour). Her original idea was a solid white-icing cake with a drawing of Olaf in the middle, white snowflakes, and a red bead border.
A couple days ago, I was thinking of her idea and told her what I imagined as an alternative: a 3-D(-ish) Olaf dancing on a grassy hill. She liked my idea, so we ran with it.
The cake is a two-layered chocolate cake with a raspberry jam filling (apparently there’s no escaping the jam 😛 ) and covered in homemade buttercream icing. This cake was, in almost every way, a first for us: our first layer cake, our first time using fillings, our first time actually decorating a cake, and so on.
Because we were in a hurry to try to finish it before Mom and Dad got home, I didn’t give the cakes adequate time to properly cool, so the top layer especially began to fall apart. I managed to temporarily fix it by filling in the cracks with extra bits of cake (which I’d cut off from the tops) and icing. Mom and Dad came home just as we were putting the second coat of icing on (and I’m amazed that Dad didn’t suspect till later that it was for him!)
Finally, the fun part. The part both of us had been looking forward to.
Decorating.
As per my sister’s suggestion, rather than using an icing tip for the grass, I poked holes into my piping (sandwich) bag, creating a cool squiggly sort of effect. Her original bead border idea remained. She piped it all by herself and is, naturally, very proud of it! Then she proceeded to make all but one of the flowers in the grass while I shaped Olaf out of store-bought icing (since buttercream icing tends to be yellowish). His arms, eyes, “hair”, buttons, and mouth were fashioned with melted chocolate applied directly on the cake with a toothpick. His tooth and feet were formed from half of a medium-large marshmallow. His carrot-nose is probably my favourite bit of work. 🙂
Both of my parents appreciated the work we did on the cake (though the kitchen was an absolute mess and the buttercream frosting is insanely sweet). Needless to say (but I’m gonna say it anyway), we had a blast with it, were happy to complete this surprise for Dad, and learned a few things along the way (such as let the cakes cool completely before decorating!!!! haha). We both want to do something like this again. I guess we’ll just have to figure out when that will be and what we’ll do for the next cake. 🙂
le Jam Cannery 