The Lala "Oopsy" Cake, Part 2:

Once in a while, I tackle a cake that tackles me.  Unfortunately, it happened to be my daughter's birthday cake.  To read the story behind this cake, you will need to read part 1.

I did a bit of research on how other cake decorators have made these Lalaloopsy dolls with their huge heads and tiny bodies, and thought I had a good grasp on what it would take to keep it all intact.  Unfortunately, I forgot that I am not good at structural physics and the cake inevitably falls over without the assistance of Mr. Man.

Here is how the cake progressed.  Get ready.

Day 1:  I made a beautiful loopsy head and mermaid tail out of rice krispy treats.  I refrigerated them for two days before wrapping them in fondant.  I textured the tail and set the pieces aside to harden.  I also baked a sheet cake and put it in the freezer until later.

Day 2:  My son and I worked after Little Miss went to bed, and completed the face and hair of the loopsy head.  I poked a hole in the bottom for a dowel to go through, wrapped the head up so she wouldn't see it, and put it in the cupboard.

Day 3:  The night before the birthday party, I placed the cake on a glass cutting board, my son iced it, and together we covered it in fondant and decorated everything with the sewing tool, seaweed and buttons.  We put a large-sized straw into the neck of the mermaid as a support and placed a wooden dowel down inside for the head to connect onto.  My son went to bed.

Later, I went to get the head out of the cupboard, and it had gone all squishy!  Melted!  

Mr. Man went to work finding a solution.  He came into the shop with a brand new wiffle ball.  I quickly covered it in gumpaste (it hardens faster) and shoved it full of royal icing and fastened it onto the wooden dowel.  We hoped for the best and went to bed.

Day 4: The day of the party, I went into the shop and found the head had fallen back, dragging the dowel, straw and the back of the mermaid with it.  There was a huge dent behind her on the cake where the head had landed.  

I realized the dowel needed to be inserted into the board so I had to lift the cake off of the glass and place it onto a foamcore board.  In lifting it, the cake cracked in several places.

I called the troops in.  Little Miss wanted to help.

I said, "sure."

"Ooh," She exclaimed, "somebody broke the whale!"

And I shrugged, and agreed.

She also found the original head we'd made, and exclaimed that it looked so much like a loopsy doll!  It wasn't until later, after covering the cracks with seaweed, and putting the hair on the head that her brother told her it was for her!  She was so surprised!

 (Three heads - can you tell which one is real? har, har)

Little Miss made the new loopsy face, her brother redid the work we had done the night before, and I went to work fixing the back, neck and cutting new dowels for the head.  Needless to say, we got it all done, and I kept the head off until we got to the party.

 Voila! The finished product, never to be seen on my facebook or cake blog.  Faded, crooked, broken and looking a little spooky, Little Miss was happy with her cake. 

And,

Ultimately,

 cake always looks like....

This!  

Yikes!  Her head at least stayed on until the end!! 

The Lala "Oopsy" Cake or The Cake Blog Reject: Part 1

What they say about the shoemaker's family is true.  Although he may put out a fine pair of shoes for any customer, his own wife and kids at home have holed shoes, or perhaps none at all.

In my case, it comes down to birthday cakes.  Of course my kids have to have them - they look forward to their birthdays every year.  Little Miss has been planning hers for months, and the plan has changed several times.  Each time, predictably, the cake is extensive.  So the day she came screaming out of a certain aisle at Walmart, jumping up and down about these strange dolls called Lalaloopsy, I knew she'd finally found something she'd stick to.

So I decided I would surprise her with a Lalaloopsy birthday cake!  Great idea, right?  Not right.  Even though I researched how other cake decorators secured the large cake-filled heads on their itty-bitty necks, I was unaware of the challenges I would face the night before the big day.

First, let me explain how much Little Miss loves these dolls.

One night I had to slip into Walmart to pick up a few baking supplies (butter is significantly cheaper there), and she decided to grab her pretty change purse and check out the toy section.  She ran straight to the Loopsy Dolls to pick out the one she wanted.

Now I am proud to say I have a very smart girl.  We counted out her money and she had nine dollars.  I explained the three prices of dolls in front of us and that none of them were nine dollars.  She would have to decide which one she wanted and save up her money to buy it.

She stared at those dolls, and slowly crossed various ones off of her list.  She didn't like the hair on this one, that one was a boy...but she realized the more accessories that were in the box, the more "spensive" it was.  So she finally made her choice.  She pointed to the $19.97 Loopsy doll.

"I want to buy that one," she said, and then pointing over to a more expensive one, said, "And you can get me that one for my birthday."

Wow.  Okay.

So she washed out the fridge in the house and the fridge in the shop, and she searched the couch cushions and various places she stashed coins, and low and behold, she "earned" the necessary $10.

I took her back to Walmart, and she took the doll happily off of the shelf.  While walking to the cash, she takes the box in both hands, looks into the face of the doll and gives a crazed, guttural laugh like she could eat it she's so happy.

"I just can't believe I'm getting this." she says quietly.  And she takes it home and now sleeps with it every night, box and all.

So her older brother and I get to work the week before her birthday to make a cake that looks like the more expensive doll (the one hidden under my bed).

But I'll talk about it more next time....meanwhile, here's a sneak peak.

My Lucky Sunglasses

I should never have lost my sunglasses.

I iced the cupcakes wrong.
The sun melted the buttercream swirls.
The cake slid into the side of the box.
The repair man never came.
I got pushed in line by an old man while waiting for a hotdog.
I got Canada Day parade candy thrown at me by a nasty parader at close range.
I couldn't eat the ice cream at the creamery.  I watched everyone else eat theirs.
We almost got backed over by a huge truck while watching the fireworks.
I almost got in a fight with the driver of the huge truck that almost backed over us.

I should never have lost those glasses.

I wore big, ugly sunglasses over my regular glasses.  It wasn't the same.
I wore a large brimmed baseball hat to shade my eyes.  It wasn't the same.

I missed my $15 Walmart special clip-ons that fit right over my glasses.

Today I got my sunglasses back.  They were delivered to my front door with a smile.

Since then, for supper I made steak the right way.
We beat the storm running home from the library.
Both kids won their soccer games.
And I had two answering machine messages from clients saying how happy they were with their cakes.

Maybe I'll wear my sunglasses all day tomorrow in hopes that the repair man comes calling.

*****

I will say Mr. Man found a small store selling pizza, begged the owner to look into their ice cream freezer, dug through the ice cream bars reading each label until he found a soy-free, peanut-free ice cream bar (probably from 2010) and ran out to hand me his prize.

Such a Super guy :)