Well, I made my first cake 6 years ago at this time. My oldest son Jack just turned 7. I can't believe it! This year, Jack is really into his Nintendo DS, so we went with a Super Mario Themed Cake. I work full time outside of my cake decorating, so I do this at night after the kiddies go to bed. I usually make my icing one night, bake the cake another night, ice the cake the next night and then add the final decorating touches the night before. It's quite a process. I learn something new with every cake. Mario on this cake took over an hour. There is so much thought involved with every piece. Mario has seven different colours on him. I had to think about the face, then the hat, to the ear, to the overalls, then the shoes, the mustache, the eyes...... and which piece goes on first. It's all about the layers. For the top tier of the cake, I started with a six inch round cake, then carved down three of the four layers to a four inch cake and left the top one as six inch to make it look like the Super Mario Flower pot. I really liked "the bomb" on the top. He is made of fondant with a candle in the middle.... worked out perfectly. As usual.... the two cakes are finished in butter cream, but decorated with fondant.
