Under the Sea Cake

Wow. It has been almost a month since my last cake and entry. It's not that I've fallen out of love of making cakes, but I will be soon be heading off to make cakes full time as a job. Before I head off I'd like to take the chance to enjoy some other hobbies that I may not have the time for later. Luckily, once in a while an occasion pops up and gives me no choice but to make a cake. Most recently was my sister Avery's birthday. She actually doesn't turn 20 for another couple weeks but she will be leaving for a semester in Australia shortly so we decided to celebrate a little early.

Avery has always been pretty helpful in bouncing off ideas on my cakes, so I felt she deserved a good one. She had a few themes she wanted, and I thought the under the sea theme was the best. The Ariel topper wasn't even in the original plan of the cake. After completing most of the work on the two sides I thought that Ariel would look perfect on top. Avery already had the topper from a previous store bought cake years ago. I did feel like it was cheating a little bit, but it just looked too perfect to pass up.

The biggest problem making a cake like this is that you can ALWAYS add more details (not like the Dragon cake, where less is more). While I am overall pretty pleased with the finished product, there are so many things I would add if I had more time. The sand was just sprinkled brown sugar and all the decorations were made of gum paste. I did include a little snorkeling koala on the side to represent her upcoming travels, but it didn't turn out quite like I hoped. He just wasn't drying fast enough and kept on falling apart. I wish I had a couple more hours to redo him real well but given the time constraints, this had to do.
I did have a little technical difficult with the top tier. I cut the board so it was exactly the size of the cake. Unfortunately, this meant that the fondant went over the board, so it wasn't supported by the dowels in the bottom tier...which led to a little droopiness. This is something I should definitely know by now, but I guess at least it is a mistake I will be sure to never make again!
The cake was all chocolate as it is her favorite, and the top tire included peanut butter cups in the frosting, and the bottom had cream cheese and Oreos. Didn't last long in this house...