An imperfect monster cake for my perfect little monster

My son requested a monster cake for his 8th birthday that sent me scouring the interwebs for ideas. While searching we ran across this blog, and he had to have THAT cake. I made a few changes to the cake to make it my own.

 I did three 8-inch rounds. The top layer was funfetti, middle layer was strawberry and the bottom layer was chocolate. I used orange dyed buttercream frosting between each layer. I dyed all the frosting with Wilton's orange gel.

 Gave the cake a base layer in case the fur didn't cover in some spots. It didn't have to be perfect because it will be covered.

I didn't know how I was going to make the mouth so I bought Sugar Sheets and cut out a mouth and teeth.

I used the Wilton color mist food coloring spray to color the inside of the mouth black. It was a pain. It doesn't ever dry and remains tacky. Later in the day, I found out just how brittle it actually was. 

The mouth before I added the "fur". 

 I don't actually own any cake decorating tools, so I borrowed this from my neighbor—I have no idea what this tip is called.

I piped the fur from the bottom up with short strides up the side so the hair would overlap. Once it was time to ice the top, I started from the center and worked out in stripes.

For the cake balls, I used left overs from each layer and added in leftover frosting.

I didn't have a recipe so I kind of winged it, but they seemed to come out fine. You want them to be soft and firm at the same time because you're going to put a stick in them. You start with just a little frosting and add more as needed. Roll in your palms to get a perfect ball.

This was my first time to make and frost cake balls and I really had no idea what I was doing (the story of my life). The eyes weren't as smooth as I wanted, probably because I didn't melt the Wilton's Candy Melts well enough. The candy was white chocolate and I used the orange Wilton gel to dye them. The way they turned out would be perfect for a mummy cake.

 Once they cake pops cooled, I used a dab of white frosting to secure the candy eyeballs in place.

I was afraid to stick all the cake pops in before it was transported to the birthday party, so I only have this picture. I would suggest taking a picture of your completed cake before the party or you could end up with the problem below.

When I pulled the cake from the carrier, it caught the mouth and tore it. I took the birthday candle and shoved it into the tear. My kid thought it was cool, so no harm, no foul.

My cake balls didn't turn out smooth, I ripped the mouth, but it was tasty and it all worked out in the end. 

Everything is trial and error when you have done nothing like it before.

xx

Tyna