"Frozen" Themed 6th Birthday Party - The Cake

Nudgie's 6th birthday is this month......and she really wanted a "Frozen" themed birthday.  I knew it would be hard to try to find anything Frozen-related since it's still so very popular, but who was I to deny my baby her birthday wish!  (I'll admit, too, that I started researching and planning for this party about 4 months ago!)

It was time to put my pre-children career of event planning back to use!

First up was the cake.  I've made most of my girls' birthday cakes in the past....but I also know my limitations.  For this birthday, I turned to my awesome friend Robin who has her own cake business and makes the best cakes EVER!  Unfortunately for me, she was going to be out of town during the big event and wouldn't be able to make the cake for me.

That left me with one option -- make it myself.

I researched.....I Googled.....I "pinned"........

I found a few cakes that I liked and thought that I could attempt to make.  I took those cakes and came up with my own idea.

Now in the past, my cake ideas often look fabulous in my head, but sometimes ended up lost in translation.  I was afraid that would be the case with this cake too.  I met my friend, Robin, for coffee one morning and talked to her about my ideas.  She gave me some tips & tricks to try and sent me on my merry way with a "call me if you have questions or problems".

So, I dove in.

The cake required (2) 13x9 cakes and (2) 6-inch rounds.  The party was on a Sunday, so I baked the cakes on Tuesday and put them in the freezer.  (A tip from Robin that I will use for ALL future cakes!)  I used a standard boxed white cake mix -- but I wanted to add a little flair, so I measured out about a cup of batter, added some blue food coloring and swirled the batter back in.  The cakes turned out great.  Step 1 - DONE!

Next up - I decided to make some fondant snowflakes to add around the cake.  I was nervous about this part since I've made fondant to cover cakes, but I've never made fondant decorations before.  I used this recipe from All Recipes and it turned out GREAT!  I recently purchased a Kitchen Aid mixer at a garage sale and used that to mix the fondant.  (I HIGHLY recommend using a KA if you have one.....it eliminates all the stickiness and cuts down on the kneading time!)  I used snowflake cookie cutters that I purchased at a garage sale for .50.  I made three large ones and put them on popsicle sticks and then made some medium and small ones too.  I used edible pearl dust to give them a slight blue shimmer, and mixed blue sprinkles into the white fondant.  I was pretty happy with how they turned out -- and then hardened very nicely over a 2.5 day period!

 

 

And finally - came the moment of truth -- decoration day!

I used a standard buttercream recipe and kept the icing white.  I used a small cheese spreader to "flip" the icing so that it looked like snow caps.  I used the fondant snowflakes all around the edges and the bigger ones added some "height" and provided a nice backdrop for Elsa.  (I purchased the figures about 2 months ago and they doubled as part of Nudgie's birthday gift too!)  I purchased some rock candy at a local candy store and crushed it up a little more to sprinkle on and around the cake to look like ice.  (I was going to make my own, but just ran out of time.  I had no idea that it was such a lengthy process!)  Top it off with some of Elsa's friends and viola -- it was done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was it wrong that I teared up a little over this cake?  I'm so incredibly happy with how it turned out!  We even gave Nudgie a sneak peek of the cake -- and her reaction alone made me tear up all over again!

Finally, birthday party day arrived......and as we lit the candles, I realized that I would have to cut up this beautiful piece of work.

But by the end of the night, this was all that remained......so I'd say it was a pretty good cake!

 

 

And last night.....Nani informed me that she wants a dragon themed cake for her birthday in December.  I guess I'd better get to Googling!