4.07.2011

Try Finding This One in the Bestiary

The sweet look belies a hidden ferocity.



Nixie is such a joy. The girl who just last week came racing from the other room to delightedly read aloud a romantic interchange between Isaac and Rebecca in the children's Bible, the girl who loves to coddle her little sister and to play with dolls, is the same wild madcap who remains fixated on swordplay, elephants, pirates, and monsters.

Because I've been crippled by ennui lately, I gently derailed her original cake ideas of another pirate ship or a rain forest jungle with monkeys swinging through the trees (and pirates, and elephants, though if they were swinging through the trees, also, or just waltzing along the ground, I never inquired). I begged that she asked if she would prefer a monster cake modeled on one of her monster drawings, and she took the bait.

She gave me the drawing on the left, and then when I was about to start the cake, I asked if I could just do a monster head (but a BIG monster head) instead, so she copied the head onto a separate sheet for me. And then she kindly taped them together.



Apart from tinting the triple batch of buttercream all manner of poisonous shades, it was a breeze. I'll have to remember this idea next year. And if Susannah will only start liking monsters instead of castles, I'll be set.



ROAR! GRRR!



7 comments :

Unknown said...

what a fantastic cake! three cheers for mama who makes drawings come to life in yummy sweetness!!!

Laura said...

such a clever idea for a cake! You are amazing!

Full of Grace said...

What a great idea! :) LOve how it turned out :)

Rebecca said...

brilliant Mama!

brilliant COLORS!

and I must know-how do you get the icing so smooth on top like that? I am horrible at that!

Abigail said...

It was more about self-preservation than cleverness, but thanks!

Rebecca,
Anything smooth-edged will work. I make a normal buttercream, and them smooth it out with what's handy. A metal ruler works nicely because its length spreads nearly across the diameter of the cake, but smaller edges work just as well (I don't have a dough scraper, but if you do, I'd imagine that would also work well). I also picked up a plastic doodad at a rummage sale that is great. I don't know what it's called, but I can show it to you next time you're here.

Abigail said...

Oh, and I rarely do a crumb coating, though I should. I just make extra frosting so I can spread it on as thickly as I need to in order to create a smooth surface.

Abigail said...

Here.

The End.

(Never say I'm not a blog comment overachiever.)