almost as good as my Lego Star Wars cake

(If you didn't read about the ridiculous amount of time I spent making Liam's Lego Star Wars' Clone Wars Commander Fox cake last year, here's the link.)

I didn't bother with all the step-by-step pictures I did with the Star Wars cake, partly because it was late, partly because I was lazy, but also because I didn't have a clear idea of what it was going to look like when finished. I started out with a three layer round cake, made some rice krispie towers and went from there.

For the tops of the towers, I mixed some of the leftover icing with a bit of corn syrup then brushed three ice cream cones with the mixture,

 and covered them with pink-dyed sugar.

beer bottles made for an excellent drying rack

Having covered everything in white marshmallow fondant and decided on a final placement of the towers the night before, it was the final details that remained.

And I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment when it comes to the details.

I kneaded the remaining white fondant with a bit of pink food dye (the gel kind intended for cake decorating) and used this to make the door, the little windows and dozens of little pink bricks. When I did Liam's Lego Star Wars cake, I added all of the fondant details with lines of icing... isn't that how they do it on Ace of Cakes? I thought it was, but after this cake, I'm re-thinking that. This time, I used a paint brush dipped in water and it worked SO well and was SO less messy. I'd lay half a dozen little bricks on the palm of my hand, face down, brush them all with water then stick them on. There was no need even to hold them in place. Super easy. I also made little round "stones" to squish into a cobble stone path.

I painstakingly cut out the letters to Mélo's name using the tip of a butter knife... then remembered I have a set of alphabet cookie cutters on the top shelf of my pantry. Nice.

ready to surprise the birthday girl

I'd offered to make this cake for the daughter of my good friend, Valérie. The party was a princess theme (if you hadn't caught that already). Mélo turned four and there's just no more perfect age for an all-out girly princess party, complete with princess dress-up clothes, twirling, dancing, more twirling, costume jewelry, make-up, a tea party, and even a visit from a "real live princess" (someone dressed as Snow White). 

We'd managed to keep the cake out of sight from the time I arrived with it, and I gave her dad the honour of being the one to bring it out to her. Here's her reaction... Priceless right? The bottom left picture is the only one that really shows it, but she was clapping the whole time it was being walked over. 

Clapping and squealing.

After she blew out the candles, I told her that there was a surprise INSIDE THE CAKE and that she'd have to cut into it to see what it was.

Did you ever see a happier birthday girl? And did you ever see a more shockingly bright cake?? Even with the picture being a bit washed out, it's still amazingly vibrant. She was so, so excited. 

SO EXCITED. 

I will admit that it was a lot of work, but every time I look at those pictures of her face when the cake was brought out, I'm reminded why I did it. You only have one 4th birthday party, and that window of blissful excitement over princesses-and-castles-and-rainbows-and-everything-pink-and-sparkly-and-over-the-top-girly closes WAY too soon.

Happy Birthday, Mélo.