The Gator Cake

I realize that I made this cake ages ago-- and that I never blogged about it. And I am profusely sorry. My only excuse is that I was busy (isn't that always my excuse?), but all excuses aside, I am here right now to tell you-- and show you-- this delicious cake.

First of all, if you don't know the backstory of how the cake was made, and my brothers' contributions, then you should definitely check out this post. Once you've read that, mosey on back here to read the grand finale. ;-)

The cake was a huge success, and everyone loved it (everyone except baby Hartley, who may have just been jealous that the cake had the spotlight for the moment, and not her). Dad mentioned that maybe there was too much green, but everyone else decided that the totally green-ness of the cake was perfect. It's supposed to be like a swamp or something equally earthy that can be found down in Florida.

I used the grass tip to make the boarder along the top of the cake, and a star tip for the bottom boarder. The words are with a #5 tip, I think. And, of course, the gator. He was made with fondant-- I didn't use the MMF because I'm just not happy with it, and as I've yet to find a replacement recipe, I just used some of the store-bought stuff. However, despite the supposed icky taste (I've never tried Wilton's fondant before, only heard the stories), my cousin did eat part of Mr. Alligator. Mmmm.

The cake itself tasted good, though, along with the icing. As mentioned earlier, the first two cake layers I made didn't rise correctly, as you can tell in this photo:

But the cake still tasted good-- just really, really dense at the bottom. Speaking of tasting good, my grandma also made a black forest cake torte which was delicious! Chocolate... cherries... whipped cream... Wow, it was the best, you should've been there. ;-D

All in all, the cake, the party, the mini family reunion went excellently well, and I have a very enjoyable weekend with my family celebrating the various, well, celebrations!

The headless gator.