My impossibly beautiful and sweet friend Ally asked me to make a birthday cake for her adorable twin daughters, Camryn and Kendall (who also happen to be in Pre-K, Sunday School, AND T-ball with my daughter, Bella!). Since they were having their 5th birthday party at the Malta Bounce, she asked for a bouncy castle design.I wish I had taken a picture of the mess I made when I first tried to bake this cake! I made a double batch of chocolate cake in one 9x13 pan - thinking I would be saving myself the prep and clean-up of another pan... Well - you can imagine what happened next. (I only clued in when I smelled the smoke...) The cake had bubbled and glopped out of the sides of the pan... and welded itself onto my oven floor. Yummy.... I stuck another pan underneath to catch the drips, but by then, it had gotten too smoky and messy. So much for saving on prep and clean up... hahaha! (NEVER cut corners when you're baking!)
After that fiasco, I was able to finally start on the cake - four layers of devil's food cake with chocolate buttercream in between, then iced on the outside with vanilla buttercream. I used the twins' favourite colours throughout the cake. Bella helped to colour the fondant. It was a big job for little hands...but she felt sooo good making her contribution to the cake! (Don't worry - she washed her hands very well before, during, and after!)
My favourite part of the cake was molding the girls, and their outfits. Ally always has them matching in these gorgeous clothes...I thought I'd match their colours, but vary the clothes a bit. Their faces were fun to do...although I had to throw out the first attempt. I had used fondant for their features, and they ended up looking a little freaky (clown-like...shudder!). I decided to scrap that idea, and used a toothpick to draw on their faces instead. Aahh...much better.
For the finishing touches on the bouncy castle, I added stitch details, and ridges (to make the castle parts look "poofy"!) Then I molded the words on the sides and back of the cake, and a "5" for the top - leaving room for the candles to go on the roof.
Happy Birthday, girls!
