delusions of grandeur part two : skyrim birthday cake

My husband made a special request for a birthday cake based on the video game Skyrim this year (cue slow exhale). Talk about being in over my head.

Awhile back, I made a Fallout-themed cake, which got his hopes up. I, on the other hand, was pretty sure this was going to be a big fail. In the end, it was kind of a mixed bag.

To start, I know my dragon sculpting needs work. And, this was my first time covering a cake in fondant. But for a first go, I think this kinda turned out pretty well, really, and I discovered I really like the part of the process where I cover the cake in the nice, smooth, fondant. It's actually kind of relaxing, at least on little cakes like this one. My friend recently made a gigantic cello-shaped cake for her daughter's birthday, covered in fondant, and I can't imagine the fortitude necessary to get one big, smooth sheet like that. Though to hear her tell it, it's pretty simple!

Anyway, here are the photos!












I built up the hillside on the top of the cake using the cut-off bits of cake leftover from the cake leveling, stuck together with buttercream.

I used the cheap-and-easy-to-make marshmallow fondant found on allrecipes.com to cover the cake. I don't know how it compares to working with regular fondant (having never worked with regular fondant), but I found it very workable, and really inexpensive by comparison. Highly recommended.

Most of the little decorations including the Viking helmet, bones, shield, and rocks, were made with gum paste. The dragon was sculpted from homemade modeling chocolate (which I found very hard to work with) and gum paste. All decorations are painted on with food color.

Finally, around the base of the cake, I piped in some grey-blue buttercream icing to look like boulders, and to disguise the fondant edge.

I'd love some feedback/hints/tips on this one. My kiddo's second birthday is in February, and I have a Zelda cake to put together for the party. I'm hoping to get some more practice in before then, so any advice is welcome!


(p.s. you can make these photos bigger by clicking on them . . . but you probably knew that!)

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