Children Under The Bed

Hooray! My fourth year of entering Threadcakes! This year I let my girls pick the design I made and they were head-over-heels in love with the kid scaring the monster. Since I figured I could probably make a similar cake, I agreed.

I started off making my the marshmallow fondant because it's so much tastier than any other kind I've ever bought. Plus, I only needed 4 colors so it was doable.

Next the baking of the cake. Always homemade cake for me. I was feeling summery so I went with a coconut lime cake. The next day, I made some delicious frosting, coconut lime cream cheese frosting. I'm not usually the biggest frosting person, but that lime cut through all the sweetness and was absolutely delicious. Plus, it had toasted coconut in it, which makes everything better (though made it difficult to get a very smooth cake). It was very sad to dye it that not-so-appetizing gray, but I needed something dark for the part of the cake that would show. And it still tasted good so we were okay! I crumb-coated and put the cake in the fridge for a bit to set.

Next, I started modeling. Even after all these years, I am a horrible cake planner. Every time I finish a cake, I realize everything I did would have been so much faster in a different order. This time I should have made the headboard and footboard first so they had plenty of time to set up. Instead, I was in a hurry to finish and stuck them in the freezer and cracked them and had to make another set. But I figured out a better way to do it the second time so maybe it's all just a learning process. And I got to eat the ones that failed.

Another thing I never do right is I never make enough fondant. It never fails. This is mostly because if I have extra, I will just eat it. And it's not really that good for you. So while I was modeling heads, I was realizing there is no way I have enough. And I don't have the ingredients to make more right now so I padded up the pillow and the two heads with just extra large marshmallows I found in my cupboard, which worked surprisingly well. I used pieces of uncooked spaghetti to attach the ears and horns because otherwise they were not cooperating.

After leaving the heads out to dry a bit, I made the quilt, which was my favorite part. It turned out so great! The contrast of the red and black was magical, in my opinion. I used a food coloring marker for the swirls. This is now my new favorite tool. So fun! I love drawing right on a cake.

Finally, I did the headboard and footboard. Twice. They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I should have probably thought that through more, but it was midnight by this time and this cake needed to be done. While they hardened, I placed the heads and pillows on the cake. I had to trim the blanket a bit and it was almost painful to cut some of that off. Then I drew the details on the monster face and added the headboard and footboard with a little extra frosting. Voila! It was done.

After 5 or 6 hours of work (which could have been less if I had planned better), I am actually thrilled with how well it came it. I don't know how, but I think I managed to capture the worried face of the monster so well I impressed myself. I loved my cake and then I got to eat a piece, which was the best part because it was moist and coconutty and limey and yum! Thanks again Threadcakes. You may be seeing another cake from me soon just because I love this contest and appreciate all the work that goes into it every year! Thanks!