Lions, Tigers, and.....Monsters?

In this Sunday’s post, I'm featuring a birthday cake I made for a little girl who asked for a Monster’s Inc cake.  She was very adamant that it had to include both Mike and Sulley and it had to be chocolate!  So, I decided to go with something cute and cartoony.

One of my friends was over while I was making the cake, so I have some great pictures of the whole process. 

After the cakes are baked and cooled, each one first gets what’s called a “crumb coat.”  Whether the cake is going to be covered in fondant or buttercream, this seals in any crumbs so that the final cake will be smooth and crumb-free.

After the crumb coat sets up briefly, the cake is ready for (in this case) fondant.  I make a homemade marshmallow fondant that is much tastier than most commercially available fondant.  The fondant is laid over the cake then buffed with a fondant smoother (pictured here) until the fondant adheres to the buttercream and is perfectly smooth.

For this cake, I cut out the decorations separately, and then laid them on.  It was almost like putting a puzzle together trying to remember how each piece fit together!

Then, I hand painted the remaining details.

I added polka dots on the board for some extra pizzazz and the cake was ready for a party!