Hot Tubbing Piggies

Who would have thought that lounging in a vat full of chocolate could be so fun.  These precious little piggies are just having the time of their lives swimming in the chocolate hot tub. 

 

My daughter posted this on my timeline of Facebook because she thought it was a cute picture of a delicious cake.  Sunshine Christian School is having a Hoedown Fundraiser April 21, Sunday from 6-8 at the Alamosa Airport. The organizer sent me a  text and asked if I would make a cake for the silent auction.  This cake is the perfect cake for a Hoedown Auction. 

 

It is a two layer chocolate cake with strawberry filling.  The cake is covered with a thin layer of butter cream frosting to act as a "glue" for the Kit Kat bars used as the barrel slats.  I tied a gingham ribbon around the barrel and piped grass around the bottom where I planted white Daisies. The chocolate "pool" is melted semi-sweet chocolate chips with cream to make a ganache.

 The piggies are made from gum paste and fondant mixed together. I love the little pork butts of the piggies dunking down in the pool.  What a crack up.  Who ever originally made this cake came up with a cute design - alas- it was not me. 

It actually was a pretty fast cake to make.  Sincere there is no fondant and just a small amount of butter cream it put together fast.  I wonder what the starting bid should be?

Minnie Mouse for Audrina

 My friend, Winona, called me again this year to make a cake for her daughter, Audrina.  Last year I did the Hello Kitty cake for her third birthday. This year she wanted a Minnie Mouse cake and gave me a picture of one she found on line.  When I Googled "Images" for Minnie Mouse cakes there were many that looked similar to this.

This is a two box cake mix.  Audrina likes Pillsbury Strawberry Cake Mix so I made two tiers with a strawberry flavored butter cream in the middle.  I mixed Smucker's Jam into my butter cream frosting and it tasted really good.

Sometimes it's hard to make box mixes work with fondant covering because they are more crumbly and not as moist.  In the last post I put a link telling how you can get moist cake every time.  This time I didn't press down on the cake.  I just turned it out on cooling racks and loosely covered with plastic wrap.  It kept the cake moist from the condensation and not so dense.



The ears are made of black chocolate candy melts.  I used a round ring mold on parchment square to shape them and cooled in the fridge until I needed them.  They are attached with butter cream.

I hand painted the zebra stripes on with Wilton black coloring paste watered down with Vodka.  It handled very well. I also painted the bottom trim fondant with the same solution.

The bow is made from the Marshmallow Fondant recipe.  I used confetti sprinkles for the pink polka dots.  I just picked out all the pink ones.  Attached them with a touch of water. I used tightly wadded up plastic wrap in the bow to hold it's shape until it dried somewhat.


Needless to say my friends were very happy with their cake and I had a ball making it.  I think I have found a new passion!


Happy Birthday Audrina.  You are beautiful!!