a chicken cake for a chicken whisperer.

it’s no secret that theannababy loves chickens. so, obvioiusly, for her 12th birthday, she requested a chicken cake. we researched the internet and gained much inspiration and decided that we (by we i mean i) would make several fondant chicken figurines and accessories, to adorn the top of a yard-ish themed cake.
so, early in the week of her party, i got to work on the chickens, so they could dry as much as possible. but, i had a good bit of trouble with my fondant drooping. even after i added a bunch of cmc powder which is supposed to make it behave more like gum paste. the first chick picture was the droopy fondant version.
so, off to michaels i went, to procure a bucket of gum paste that appeared to be in stock on their app. well, it wasn’t. and i began to panic a little. but, i scored some lesser quality (and more expesive) gum paste at walmart and rushed home and whipped up a half dozen chickens. to help them keep their shape as they dried, i put them in little bowls, with soft quilting batting under them, like a little nest.

with all of the decor completed and drying, i set my sights on the cake. i attempted to make a vanilla cake into funfetti by adding my own rainbow jimmies, but a lot of of them sank, and i was frustrated, but not enough to start over. i also shoved a bunch of sprinkles between the layers. and then turned the outside into a cake version of some grass, a fence, and sunflowers.

i tidied up and put all the finished touches on the figurines and prepared for assembly. the hay bales are rice krispy treats, dipped in melted chocolate, and coated in crushed shredded wheat. they were perfect.

it all came together better than i had envisioned. i had questioned the structural integrity of the coop all week (it even broke in half at one point but i repaired it and hid the evidence), but it was pretty solid in the end.

i carted the cake around to various locations in the yard for good natural lighting, but had to work fast because it was warm and i didn’t need any melted frosting. i’m pretty pleased with all the tiny details.

obviously, i needed to get a pic with our very own coop in the background. the fondant coop was loosely modeled after our little chickens’ humble home.

and that’s the story of the epic chicken cake for anna’s birthday.

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