Adventurer

My husband discovered this contest a few weeks ago. I've always loved making cakes and decorating them, but I'm no pro. I thought I'd have no chance of winning, so what was the point of entering? Then I started looking at designs and it just sounded fun. So I did it! My entry is to make everyone else's look good. :)

This T-shirt immediately popped to mind. Only later, when I was so far in the process I couldn't change, did I discover someone else had chosen almost the exact same design (oops! great minds think alike?).

I normally bake everything from scratch, but discovered a cake mix that was "best by" the next day so I went with that instead. I figured I would compromise and make some really good buttercream frosting. We mixed. We baked. The fun part was the decorating. I'm not a big fan of the flavor of fondant so I went with buttercream (mmmmmmm) and molded my adventurer out of Tootsie Rolls and Flavor Rolls softened in the microwave. The sign is made out of melted chocolate chips, dark and white. I figured if I'm eating this I might as well make it good. The shirt background was a very unappetizing gray and I wouldn't want to eat a cake that color. The only real snag was my frosting color. I wanted brown, but was picturing something lighter. I forgot I only had "Special Dark" cocoa until it was too late and I had dumped too much in. Good thing taste is what counts the most. The whole process took about 3-1/2 hours, pretty quick from what I'm reading in other entires.

I had a great time, and my husband and little daughters appreciated the cake. Thanks for the chance to waste my time doing something I wanted to do!