Calvin and Hobbes Themed Cupcakes - April 2013

I made these Calvin and Hobbes themed cupcakes for my son, Caleb, to share with his class at school for his birthday.  (You can see his Calvin and Hobbes birthday cake here.)

To make these cupcakes I layered some orange tinted cake batter (red for some) with some chocolate cake batter in cupcake liners and baked them.  I was trying to get a striped look inside, but I didn't do thin enough layers, so it was more like a one big stripe-ish look for most of them (see picture below), but oh well, still something different.  :)

 

After the cupcakes baked and completely cooled, I iced the orange cupcakes with orange colored buttercream and the red cupcakes with red buttercream.  Then I piped black buttercream icing stripes on all the cupcakes.  Then using an open star tip (I think I used a #22) I piped white tufts of fur along the sides of the orange, Hobbes, cupcakes, and yellow spikes of hair along the top of the red, Calvin, cupcakes.  I did the Hobbes cupcakes first, and looking back, I think if I were to do it again I'd do the white fur tufts similarly to the hair I did on the Calvin cupcakes.  But I did like how the cupcakes came out, a little simplistic nod to Calvin and Hobbes.  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Calvin and Hobbes Snowman Cake - April 2013

I made this Calvin and Hobbes cake, featuring their very unique snowmen, for my son, Caleb, for his 11th birthday.  I loved Calvin and Hobbes growing up, so when I introduced it to my kids I thought it was cool that they liked it, especially Caleb, he really took off with it.  I was excited when he picked it for his birthday theme, and I pretty much immediately knew this was what I wanted to do for his cake.

For this cake I baked one 12 inch round cake and two 6 inch round cakes.  A while back I had seen Duff Goldman's zebra striped cake mix in the store.  I thought it looked cool and was interested so I took a look at the back of the box to see how they said to do it.  When Caleb decided to have a Calvin and Hobbes party I thought it would be fun to use that technique to make the inside of the cake look tiger striped (and 'Calvin striped' (red and black like his shirt) for other cakes).

 

I used a chocolate cake mix and a white cake mix that I colored orange by putting food coloring in the batter and followed the directions that I had seen for the Duff zebra cake.  The two 6 inch cakes I made tiger striped, and the 12 inch cake had some Calvin stripes next to some Hobbes tiger stripes with white cake batter that I mixed up in addition around it to look like snow.  (I took part of that white cake batter and added red to it to make the red for the Calvin stripes.)

 

After the cakes were completely cooled I leveled them and stacked them (icing in between).  I stacked the 6 inch cakes a little off center towards the back of the 12 inch cake (which was off center towards the back of the cake board) to give room for my snowmen and other items.  I crumb coated the cakes and let the icing set.  Then I iced the cakes and the cake board with white buttercream purposely going in different directions leaving visible lines and some peaks to give it that snowy look.

 

 

All the figures and other items on the cake I made of fondant ahead of time.  I found all the different snowmen Calvin had made in the comics and then let Caleb choose several that he wanted.  I had him put them in the order he wanted from most to least in case I couldn't get to them all.  I think I was able to get all but one done, the snowman swimming away from the snow sharks.  Well, the one holding his head out in front of him I decided not to do for the logistics of it and the time it would take to make it work.



Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson





Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson





Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson



 

I had the pictures of the snowmen (and multiple pictures of Calvin and Hobbes) right next to me and constantly referenced to them as I was making all the figures to try and get them to look just like they did in the comics.  The bodies of the snowmen are made with white fondant shaped for how each particular snowman looked.  For the mouths that were open I made using a fondant tool to shape them.  I made the little carrot noses out of orange fondant, let them dry a just little bit, and attached them to the snowmen using a dab of water.  The arms are made of brown fondant.  I let the arms dry so they would hold their shape when they were on the snowmen.  When I attached them I made a small hole in the snowman's body with a toothpick and then inserted the arms.  I made a couple extra in case any of them broke.  I used a black food coloring marker for the eyes, mouths, and buttons (and the words on the sign).  The two hats on the snowmen are made from fondant as well as the sled the little snowman is on.  The snow shovel and sign are made of fondant except for the sticks which are toothpicks.  For the tiny snowmen I forget if I pinch their arms out from the bodies or if I attached a little pinch of fondant to the bodies.  I think it might have been the first way.  Whichever way it was they were painted with a dab of brown food coloring. 

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson



Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson

I made Hobbes and his scarf out of fondant with his eyes and stripes drawn on with a black food coloring marker.  I set his arms aside to dry before attaching them because I wanted them to stay how I put them once I attached them.  When I went to attach them they didn't sit against the body exactly right and I had to work with them a bit to get them attached and looking okay.  So, I didn't get them positioned exactly how I had wanted.  Looking at him after he was together, I would have wanted his arms to be a little more relaxed looking and his head to be looking down towards the snowman, but I was still very happy with Hobbes' overall look.

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson

 

All the elements of Calvin were also made with fondant with his eyes and mouth drawn on with a black food coloring marker.  I did let his arms dry some also, but I didn't wait as much as I did with Hobbes' so I could have a little more give in the body and arms when attaching them.

Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip by Bill Watterson

 

After I iced the cake I got some more icing and put a blob of it on the cake board to look like a mound of snow.  Then I put the fondant sled I'd made sticking out of the snow to look like Calvin and Hobbes had crashed it in the snow.  Then I started at the top cake layer and made a furrow in the icing down the side of the cake and on the top of the bottom cake layer to make it look like they had sledded down the cake before they crashed.

 

Next I placed my fondant snow fort and pile of snowballs on the bottom cake.  I had some extra snowballs that I didn't need for the snowball pile so I decided to use them to make an 11 on the side of the top cake like they had thrown them there.

 

Then I started placing the snowmen and Calvin and Hobbes on the cakes and cake board.  After I placed the little snowman on the sled and the snowman it sledded through I made a little furrow in the icing following after the sled.  I knew I had made my little sled too short, but I didn't notice until after that the little snowman's sled in the comic is really long and extends all the way past the other side of the snowman he sledded through.  Grr...

I also made a 6 inch 'Calvin striped' cake with the leftover batter that I had.  I used that 6 inch cake and the top from leveling it as well as the tops from the leveled 6 inch tiger cakes to make a 'snowball' cake for extra cake at the party.

 

I was super excited and so pleased with how the cake turned out.  I thought it really captured the characters well and the spirit of Calvin and Hobbes.  I loved how the inside of the cake came out as well.  Everyone thought the tiger stripes were really cool.  Caleb absolutely loved the cake and was really excited about it as well.  :)  The kids and adults at the party thought it was awesome, especially those familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, they really thought it was great.  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

 

Stories to Devour - January 2013

My mom and I made this cake with pages from classic books on it for my sister, Casandra, for her birthday.  My mom baked and iced the cake, and then I decorated it with the fondant pages I had made.  I chose excerpts from books that I knew my sister liked and ones that I thought she probably had read and liked.

[If you'd like to quiz yourself on what books the excerpts are from
then take a look at the last two pictures in this post.  :) ]

So, for decorating this cake I started by choosing the books that I was going to use and then finding the excerpt that I wanted from the book.  When choosing your excerpts keep in mind the amount of room that you will have to write.  I ended up having to shorten or choose a different section of a few excerpts because of space.

I rolled out some white fondant fairly thin.  From the computer I had printed a rectangle the size I wanted the pages to be.  I cut the rectangle out, put it on the fondant, and cut around the shape to make my rectangle of fondant.  I repeated this for as many pages as I needed.

After cutting the rectangles out of the fondant, I let them set for a bit.  This lets the surface be a little harder and smoother which makes them easier to write on.  If you try to write on them right away, I find that the marker wants to sink and drag in the fondant.  If you are planning on curling the corners of any of your pages, then don't let them dry too much or they will crack when you go to curl them (I curled mine after I wrote on them because they were easier to write on when they were flat).

I used a black food coloring marker to write on the fondant pages.  I had a Wilton fine tip marker, so that is what I used on these.  Before I wrote on my fondant I tested out writing one of the excerpts on my paper rectangle that I had printed out with an ink pen (take into consideration that your marker will write thicker).  This just gave me an idea of size and spacing.  Once I had my first one written on the fondant (that happened to take up a full page) I could use that to judge the others that I had to write.

After I wrote on the fondant pages and curled the corners of some of them I set them aside to finish drying.  Some of them that I had curled I had to put something under the curled part while it dried to keep it from falling back down.  Then on the day of the party I just placed them on the cake that my mom had ready.

Everyone kind of did a double take realizing that they were handwritten.  :)  Casandra really liked the cake and from what I remember she knew all of the books the excerpts were from except for one.  She hadn't read it yet but wanted to.  :)  I was very happy with the way it turned out.

Okay, here's the quiz.  :)

Look at the pictures and see how many book titles you know from the excerpts below (bonus if you know the authors).  :) Have fun!  :)

 

[To see any picture larger you can just click on it.  :) ]

 

Look in the comments below for the answers.

(I created my animated name at this site.)