For my lil' sister's birthday recently we threw a "Beetle Ball" themed dinner party...I want to remain modest, but it was seriously the best-idea-ever! =D The dinning table was turned into a secret garden, with grass, mushrooms, flowers and little critter ornaments (hedgehogs, snails, gnomes and butterflies) everywhere! We dressed up as insects too, using creative makeup, wings, spots and antennae!
But when thinking about making a cake for the occasion I was unsure of what to do...We've previously done all the kid's party cakes in the theme - the butterfly, the ladybug, the hedgehog and even for her thirteenth, a large "13" covered in cute meringue "grubs". But also because we eat pretty healthily at my place, we usually go naughty with celebratory dinners, and thus this event was to be a fish n' chups kind of occasion...and thus despite being technically full, because it's a birthday, it's still fun to have a pretty cake...sooo I came up with a dessert platter! Where you have something which is fun and gorgeous to look at, but is something sweet without being a huge slab of cake (not that you ever have to actually eat a huge slab of cake, but you know how these things roll!) :)
Here's the lo-down of what I did to achieve this dessert:
I covered a cake board with aluminium foil. Then spread a batch of chocolate fudge frosting on the surface to make the "ground."
The "grass" is achieved by placing shredded coconut in a snap-lock bag, adding a touch of green liquid food dye, sealing the bag, and then rubbing it until coated.
The "logs" are pieces of liquorice dipped in chocolate and then scoured with a toothpick.
The "mushrooms" and "rocks" are lollies which can be purchased if you're lucky to find the right shops!
The ladybugs are inspired by those found in Bakerella's cake pops book, and were achieved by baking cake batter in the cake pop pans that you can purchase nowadays. Once cooled, I dipped them in white chocolate which I coloured red using powdered food dye. I then painted mentos black, using liquid food dye for the head, chopped the ends off of tic-tacs for the eyes, used heart sprinkles for the mouth, and jimmies for the antennae. Before using a tube of black food gel to add the details :)
I hope that you like this idea, 'cus I was pretty stoked about how it turned out! :) So hopefully it makes you want to get creative in the kitchen, and that this is something you can whip up when you want a sweet ending to a get-together without too much of the sweet!
Enjoy fairy dusting your world! =D
