Peter Pan Birthday Cake

Happy Sunday, everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful week!  I certainly liked the weather here last Sunday much better than today...

This week’s cake was for a little girl who was having a Peter Pan-themed birthday party.  The client wanted a small cake, but it had to include Captain Hook as well! 

I came up with a design featuring Wendy, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook.  I wanted the cake to look a little more like Neverland, but when I searched for pictures of Neverland, all that came up was Michael Jackson’s house (which isn’t very helpful).  So I just went with something playful and whimsical.

The “water” is made by not completely kneading the food coloring into the fondant, so that it leaves streaks, which create the appearance of running water.  All the little rocks and foliage are made of fondant as well.

Here’s a closer look at Captain Hook, which my favorite part of the cake.

Usually when I make small figurines for cakes, I use modeling chocolate.  It’s easier to work with, as it doesn’t ever completely dry; this gives me more time to shape the people.  Well this particular week, it was really hot outside, so my modeling chocolate was melting as I was trying to work with it.  I had to switch to gumpaste in the middle of the project.  Gumpaste is firmer that fondant and dries rock hard very quickly.   This can be very beneficial sometimes, but in this case it was a mixed blessing.  This solved the problem of the figures melting, but it made it much more challenging to shape them.  Oh well, the joys of making art out of things that are edible. 

Don’t forget to send in your baking/cake decorating/cooking questions for next week’s special Q & A post.  I’ve gotten several good questions so far, so keep them coming!  You can post them here or email them to creativecrumbsnashville@gmail.com.