Pattern Play Baby Shower

A few weeks ago I received an email from Debbie to make a very special cake to celebrate the upcoming birth of her very first grandchild.  The theme for the shower was "monsters" but the design of the cake was totally open. I wanted to find a good balance between being uber cute (like the one I made for Mikey's first birthday) and sophisticated. When Debbie showed me the invitation she made, I was instantly inspired.

Here's a snippet of the invitation... lots of patterns! The chevron pattern was very challenging. I cut it out by hand and that took about 2 hours. Placing it on the cake was harrowing too. I followed the instructions on Jessicake's blog and struggled a lot. Hopefully with some practice I'll get better.  The diamond/jack shapes at the bottom took the longest. Eight different colors, 15 diamonds and 480 dots, each placed individually. That kept me up pretty late (or should I say early?).

Here's the finished project! Cake, monster cake pops and more French macrons. Debbie and her daughter decorated the house for the party.

I made this little guy out of modeling chocolate (teal and white parts) and Wilton's new product called Shape-N-Amaze Edible Decorating Dough (red part). It was first time working with both. I made the modeling chocolate myself and I think it works really well but I need to tinker with it some more. The Wilton dough was somewhat easy to work with but it felt very plastic to me. The color wasn't consistent; it was marbled with black and darker shades of red. As such I had to really work with it to mix properly. Lastly, although it claims to be edible, I thought it tasted really awful (similar to Wilton's fondant but worse!). I don't think I'd ever use it again. It was expensive too, about $5 for 6oz.  I think I'll stick to using modeling chocolate or gum paste. It tastes great, it's easier to work with and it's way cheaper.

Anywho, they decorated the whole house for the party, including the backyard. Even though it was a bit overcast outside, I thought it was beautiful and just delightful.

Isn't this darling? It was obvious that there was lots of love in this house. This is one very lucky baby!

In front of the cake there are French macaroons with latte filling.

The cake pops were subtly monster-ified by adding eyes to some of them.

See the baby's photo next to the diaper cake? I loved that!

Debbie did an outstanding job on this diaper cake, wouldn't you agree? I think someone is over-the-moon excited to be a grandma, huh?

This is the new Mom and Dad's dog, Molly (I think that's her name). She was adorable and so well behaved. I vonteered to puppy sit after the baby's born. She was sooo sweet! 

Congrats to the new parents and grandparents and the puppy too!