Creature Comforts

This weekend I made a cake for a friend’s daughter who turned 2. She is a berry fiend and fierce animal lover, so when it came to coming up with an idea for a cake it seemed natural to combine the two.

I started with a plain yellow cake recipe. Then I made Elisa Strauss’ buttercream icing and my own recipe for mixed berry mousse (I’ll post it next time).

I always pipe a dam of icing around the perimeter of the cake before adding the filling. It contains the filling and prevents it from seeping out later when you ice the cake.

This is the crumb coat stage; a very thin layer of icing over the entire cake to contain the crumbs and filling. Then I put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to set up before doing the finish icing and decorating.

My Sweetie & I played in the gumpaste together and made some critters for the top of the cake:

Add some mixed berries,

and voila! A fun cake

for a very fun little girl.