Dora the Explorer

Ever say you will do something then all along while working on it wonder "What was I thinking?"

This was THAT cake!  Originally I was going to do a 3 tierred cake but transporting a 3 tierred cake, stacked doesn't work very well so I redesigned it and made it a 2 tier cake instead.

When designing this cake, the Dora characters looked fairly easy...considering I spent about an hour on each piece, I would say they are not easy but more on the medium-difficult level.  I read something recently about clay shaping (which also works well with fondant work) that said to look at shapes not the figure. It seems to be helping so my figures look much better than they did a year ago.  I worked on a biker for my cousin's upcoming cake the other night and was able to do the biker in about 15 minutes so it's definitely getting easier.   I googled "fondant Dora" so I could see a few examples and that's when I came across an AMAZING Etsy store, KrazyKoolCake Designs.  Talk about a talented fondant artist!  She sells her pieces for $38-$120 each and they are absolute perfection.  I'm secretly in love with her Mater from Cars but can't afford his price tag.. maybe with practice I can make him myself for my husband's birthday in February.

The Baking Gods were not with me when I baked this cake.  One of the layers stuck to my pan so I sent my husband to the store for more ingredients.  I put another layer in the oven to replace the stuck cake & when I pulled the replacement out of the oven it slipped out of my oven mits.. upside down on the floor.  I can not repeat what came out of my mouth at that point $#@#$^. After we tossed all the wasted cake, I realized I should have kept it and taken it to our friends chickens for feed but I wasn't thinking clearly and just wanted it out of my sight. I made another layer and put it in the oven and babied that layer with all my might!  Finally I had a perfect layer for the cake shortly before midnight ;( 

My favorite character on the entire cake was Tico.  I can't look at him without smiling. He's colorful and his expression is priceless.

Tico

Backpack & Map

Boots is pretty cute too

Happy 2nd Birthday Avery!

so glad you warmed up to your party and had fun with all

your friends & family

Iza

Swiper