Yoshi Birthday Cake for Breanna

Last night I made a cake for my friend Anne's granddaughter, Breanna, who's celebrating her twelfth birthday by having a party tonight for seven of her friends.  Breanna had requested a Yoshi cake.  First, I had to learn just who or what Yoshi is.  Yoshi, it seems, is a cute little dinosaur from the Super Mario video game.  I checked him out and thought, "I can do this."  My son Jeff was visiting so I asked, "Want to help me get creative with fondant?" and, as usual, he cheerfully agreed.

The night before, I had baked two 8-inch rounds, which were ready for frosting.  Using my standard decorating buttercream, I tinted 3/4 of the batch a sky blue and left the rest white.  I evened the layers with a serrated knife, filled them with white frosting, and covered the cake in sky blue.



With the fondant, Jeff and I crafted clouds, stars, flowers, shrubs, a mushroom, a potted tulip, and, of course, Yoshi.  If you've never worked with fondant before, don't be intimidated.  Wilton makes a ready-to-use fondant, in white and also a variety of colors, that rolls out beautifully. (You can also make your own, if you are so inclined!).  Fondant can be formed like edible clay to craft all kinds of cute little figures.  We opted for Wilton's basic white fondant and colored it ourselves with gel food colorings (which can be a messy process and I suggest vinyl gloves), rolled it into clouds, shrubs, stars, and flowers, shaped with cookie cutters.  Then we shaped the fondant into a potted plant, a mushroom, and finally, the star of the show, Yoshi. 

This is Yoshi

Jeff and I had a lot of fun playing - I mean creating - last night.  I hope Breanna and her friends have as much fun deconstructing Yoshi as we did putting him together!