A Cinderella Coach Cake fit for a 5 yr. old

       

Well I finally got to do another specialty cake. I really enjoy creating birthday cakes and I especially like brainstorming for the next one. Before I committed to going back into the studio to make artwork, creating cakes and baking was my only form of creativity. Looking forward to making childrens' theme cakes the most, I had freedom to make what I wanted for my oldest's first birthday cake only. All the rest of the cakes I've had to have "help" from my two daughters. So needless to say,  it has sometimes been very frustrating trying to tame what I want to make and accomidate their skill level and have them help. I have to say that making marshmallow fondant with a two year old is very messy and not fun at all. How did she get it everywhere?

So this year my oldest daughter said she wanted a Cinderella Coach cake for her birthday party. To research as to how I could possibly construct this cake, I went onto Cake Central.com right away. This is a fantastic and addictive site fully of some really highly skilled artisans. I didn't find too much though except the cakes made with the character molds. Instead I did a search on Flickr and found a few cakes of the coach cake in 3-D. Armed with an idea as to what might be required, I borrowed another baking friends Wilton small sports ball mold and baked off a boxed chocolate cake mix. I usually always make my cakes from scratch but my first attempt at the coach cake with a Betty Crocker bake-n-fill proved to be a waste.

I broke the steps down to be done on several different days so I wouldn't get overwhelmed with trying to finish the cake and get the house ready for our first kids birthday party. My daughter was so excited to decorate the cake and kept asking for days beforehand if we can "decorate today". Things were going quite well with the kids and my daughter even helped create the dog driver, but it was too much for my youngest and she wasn't into decorating anymore. That meant everyone else was supposed to stop too. A quick call to Grandma and I was able to get some time alone to finish the cake. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out as it has been one of my more adventurous cakes. I'm already planning the youngest daughter's cake. If only I can get her to make up her mind as to what it will be.

Below are some photos I took during the process.

 Marzipan dog with an already broken leg.

Putting in the cookie seat.

  The finished cake.

Just for fun I thought I would add the wordsearch my daughter created as a "party game" for her guests. Please feel free to right click it and print it off.