Squirrel Cake

by Marlynnda Wetsel-Romero
(NM USA)

Squirrel Cake

My 3 year old daughter loves squirrels, especially the one from the Curious George TV show. So it was a given that I would make a squirrel for her 3rd birthday. With no template, just a picture of the Curious George squirrel I set off.

The cake was 2 box chocolate mixes in a 1/2 sheet pan. The entire cake was sculpted free form. The body and face is one layer in one piece cut to shape. The tail is actually four pieces of cake. The part of the tail closer to the body is 1 and 1/2 layers. I thinned the top layer to make it just a bit taller than the body. The bushy part of the tail is 2 layers with an indent in the middle to add a rounder bottom accent to the tail. I wanted it to look like the tail was coming out. I laid down a layer of chocolate canned frosting and then put the fondant on piece by piece.

I made the fondant icing with a large container of Marshmallow fluff, powdered sugar, a bit of milk and vanilla extract. I separated a tiny bit and colored it with black paste coloring for the eyes, mouth and nose. I then separated out two pieces of frosting and colored one with ivory coloring for the light brown and the other with cocoa powder and melted chocolate for the dark brown.

The edges between the colors were brushed with water and rubbed to add a softer flow between. I "cut" a line at the back leg to separate the body and leg. The whole cake was brushed with water and I raked a fork gently across it to add "fur" in the directions that the fur would actually fall. This also helped distinguish the different parts of the tail.

Final touches also included eyelashes painted on using the black icing color and a cupcake liner between his hands. I filled it with berries since that's also something she loves. It was a huge hit at the party! Which made it very difficult to cut into.