ROUND 2, CAKE DECORATING

If you missed round one, click here. (sorry I am a bit late posting this)

This time I tossed a few things out the window. First to go... baking my cake from scratch. I decided I am going to do it the way I know best and that would be using two yummy boxes of Pillsbury cake mix. I also went back to my two pans so baking is easier because the cake isn't nearly as thick. (Less chance of it falling)

Fondant, bought some ready made. Yes, yes, much easier to work with. Not exactly yummy but makes my cake look much nicer. Presentation is so important here. :)

As you can see the Mickey house is not real smooth using Rice Crispy treats to form them. Plus when I stuck my Mickey head on the pencil I used to support it it split in half. Ugh....Instead I am going to do what others have done and use Styrofoam balls to create the house and then wrap them in store bought colored fondant. No one is going to eat this part anyway so lets not make every thing so hard. Oh and I am not sure why my house looks orange in the picture. It was red but that makes me think I need to make the red darker.

I rolled out my yellow fence that goes around the outside of my cake and made the gate. I actually didn't do to bad with this part. I know what I need to do next time to make it better. Trimmed around the top with icing to make it look like grass. I also will cut out little circles to make stepping stones and add store bought Mickey and friends to top off the cake.

I haven't decided but I do think I am going to skip the foot, hand and slide that is part of the club house. I might change my mind last minute but I am fearful of really messing this up.

In the end my big plan is on Saturday (Oct 24) to make all the decorations that go on top of my cake. Then on Sunday (day of party) bake the cake, decorate it. This might be a bad choice but I do want it to taste good and I noticed just after one day my sample cake didn't taste all that great because it lost a lot of its freshness.

I do have to make sure that I buy everything ahead of time so I am prepared. I can not forget anything!

Funny thing is I have spent a fortune doing this. Between buying new cake pans, supplies and more supplies it has become very expensive. I could have paid someone else to make two really nice cakes at this point. The good thing is most things purchased can be tucked away for next time and used again. So in some ways I have made an investment, that or an insane commitment to decorating all birthday cakes from this point forward. Not sure how I feel about that yet.

Wish me lots of LUCK! I will share the final cake after the birthday party.