Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Dabbling in Decorating: Jeep Cake

During our Thanksgiving visit to Chicago, we had the privilege of celebrating my cousin Ethan's 20th birthday as a family. While other family members were still recovering from Thursday's feast and Friday's shopping, my Aunt Amy woke early on Saturday to begin work on my cousin's birthday cake.

A yellow cake with Great Grandma's famous chocolate icing is the tradition, but this year's cake had a special twist: a Jeep topper to let my cousin know he'd be getting the Jeep he'd had his heart set on.


Since Ethan is helping to pay for his new wheels, he'd already figured out the surprise - which meant we wanted the cake to be extra special. The layers were already baked and two of them already iced when we decided to surprise Ethan with an creative cake. Instead of a Jeep atop a round layer cake, we created a chocolate-covered off road landscape! 


My aunt and I  - both dedicated dessert lovers - put our heads together for a few minutes, and came up with a great design that was easy to put together and oh-so-delicious. Great Grandma's Chocolate Icing provided the perfect texture for tire tracks and we shaped some boulders from leftover icing, thickened with more powdered sugar and dusted with cocoa powder. Naturally brown German rock sugar simulated pebbles and smaller rocks.

I'm a decent baker, but a cake decorator I am not, so I was thrilled with the finished product - and I think Ethan and his friends were, too. The only thing better than seeing his reaction? Digging in!


This post is shared at:
Mrs. Happy Homemaker: Makin' You Crave Monday - Craft-O-Maniac: Monday Link Party - Add a Pinch: Mingle Monday - C.R.A.F.T: Making Monday Marvelous - Home Savvy A to Z: Savvy HomeMade Monday - Skip to My Lou: Made by You Monday - Dittle Dattle: Amaze Me Monday - Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday - Sew Much Ado: We Did It! Wednesday - The Thrifty Home: Penny Pinching Party - Sugar and Dots: What I Whipped Up Wednesday - This Chick Cooks: These Chicks Cooked - My Girlish Whims: Your Whims Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design: Show and Tell Wednesday - Polkadots on Parade: Wow Me Wednesday - Southern Lovely: Show & Share - Ginger Snap Crafts: Wow Me Wednesday - Junk in their Trunk: Link it Up Wednesday - The ArtsyGirl Connection: Pin'Inspirational Thursdays - Simply Designing: Simply Link Party - Whipperberry: Friday Flair Link Party - Creation Corner: Friday Link Party - Fingerprints on the Fridge: Feature Yourself Friday - Alli-n-Son: Sweet Tooth Friday - Kojodesigns: Friday Fun Finds - Happy Hour Projects: Freestyle Friday - Sweet As Sugar Cookies: Sweets for a Saturday - Too Much Time On My Hands: Get Schooled Saturday - A Well-Seasoned Life: Sweet Indulgences Sunday - Homemaker in Heels: Weekend Craft Soiree

13 comments:

  1. Thanks! It was so much fun to do :)

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  2. I have a friend whose son is OBSESSED with my Jeep. This would be perfect for his third birthday!!

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  3. Lovely and creative cake.. It's TOTALLY AWESOME.. I would LOVE if you could please stop in and linky this terrific feature via my Pin’Inspirational Party happening today pweease… http://theartsygirlconnection.blogspot.com/2011/11/pininspirational-thursdayslinky-party.html .. THANK YOU SO MUCH.. Wishing you an incredible start to your weekend.. Sincerely ~ M

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  4. Awesome cake!! My fiance wants to know where you got the Jeep.

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  5. that is amazing! My son (only 2yrs) is obsessed with tractors and youve given me a brilliant idea for his birthday cake! thankyou (found you through kojo designs)nice to meet you :)

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  6. That is really cool! How imaginative.

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  7. Jennifurla - thanks for your enthusiasm! I always look forward to your comments :)

    Marilyn - thanks for the invitation. I had fun browsing the links at your party.

    kristin - I wish I knew! My aunt bought the Jeep before we arrived, but I'm sure you could get one at most toy stores

    Little Dotty Bird - Nice to meet you, too! I'm glad to have helped you with an idea for your son :)

    Cherish - thanks for your kind comment, and thanks for visiting!

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  8. That is so cool, I had to share on FB. Great job!

    happylizard.blogspot.com

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  9. Thanks SO much for linking to Pin'Inspirational Thursday's last week.. This is SO awesome.. I love it.. Hope you can come back this evening and link up again.. xoxox.. Marilyn

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  10. Thank you so much for the awesome idea! this is not even kidding the exact idea my fiance came up with for his grooms cake. Our wedding is coming up so glad I got to see what he has been trying to describe to me!

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  11. Nice cake. Wanna have a learn about it.

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  12. Wonderful cake recipe. Yummylicious cake.....I will try this recipe tonight but i am also impressed with BIRTHDAY CAKE SPARKLERS

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