Tale of the Tiki

Another chapter in my adventures in caking.

We had a 4th of July luau this weekend.

My sister and I decided to change things up a bit.

My mom thinks we're crazy.

I suspect she's right.

I searched online for weeks for authentic luau food.

My sister found red, white and blue leis.

We thought we were pretty fabulous.

Sir Fattington and Vinegar just had to be in on the action.

So my most fabulous, favorite niece turned 13 on the 1st.

We had a 4th of July/Birthday luau.

I can't believe she's 13.

Mostly because it means Sadi will be 13 in 6 months.

I made Lu a cake.

I joked on FB that I was going to make it look like this:

My mom had a little meltdown and thought this was disgusting.

First of all it was a joke and

B, I'm flattered she thinks my caking abilities are up to this. :)

Soooo... I looked at a cake that looked like a coconut.

I hate coconut though so that was out.

Then I thought a cake shaped like flip flops would be cute.

I kept searching luau, tropical themed cakes.

I happened on cakes that looked like tikis and

the idea was born!

Lu requested chocolate and that I could surprise her with the icing.

I chose cookies and cream. Yum!

I was entering new territory as I was going to have to do a little carving on this.

I found myself worried about maybe overestimating my abilities once I started.

Five 6 inch layers of chocolate cake.

It's filled and frosted with my SUPER SECRET cookies and cream icing.

Here it is covered with Duff's chocolate fondant.

Fondant YUCK! you say?

I'm a fan of this brand. The chocolate tastes like fudge.

It's not difficult to use.

This being my first completely covered cake and it being 100 degrees...

I was NERVOUS!

I kept the air set at 68 degrees while I worked on this baby!



He is a very happy tiki!

I should have taken a picture when we sliced the face off.

The layers were perfect.

I was so proud of myself.

And the cake got rave reviews.

Lu took the face home to eat later. :)

Happy birthday my most fabulous Lu!