Zebra Polka Dot Princess Cake

I am so excited to be able to share this weeks project with you all! It has to be one of my favorites so far!!! 

Recently a family member asked me to make a cake for their granddaughters' first birthday, and I was so excited to be able to do this for them! 

Due to the amount of people coming to the party we decided to make it a 2 tiered cake (a 10inch and a 6inch, with a matching little 4inch smash cake on the side). 

This was the design we finally picked: 

The 10in layer is zebra striped, with a pink and white name plaque on the front, as well as pink (glittery) pearls on the bottom layer. 

The top layer is a lighter pink than the pearls, with black and white dots of various sizes, a #1 plaque on the front, and the same pink pearls as the other layer. It's also topped with a silver and pink glittery crown. 

And the smash cake will be make to mimic the top layer (with smaller details, even a mini crown).

The first part of my project I had to finish was to make all the gum paste and fondant decorations and details that will make this cake special. 

I cut a bunch of black and white dots (3 different sizes) and laid them on a cutting board to dry. 

Then I moved onto the name/number plaques. 

The #1 plaque was made by using a simple round cutter for the black background and a 5 petal fondant cutter to place on top. 

I then used a toothpick to punch holes around the edges to imitate a doily. Then placed a black #1 on the center of it, making it really pop! 

I wanted to keep with the doily theme when making the name plaque to make sure they matched. 

So I cut out an oval in pink fondant and covered it in massive amounts of hot pink disco dust. While that set up a little bit, I made a slightly smaller oval out of white fondant and poked holes in the edges similar to the other plaque. I used the toothpick and scalloped the edges as well, finishing off that doily look I was hoping to achieve. 

The next project I worked on was the crowns. I needed two, different sized crowns - one to fit on the 6in cake and one on the 4in cake.

I used the Wilton brand Baroque silicone mold to help me form all the scroll work for the crown, giving it great detail!!! 

This is the larger crown :) put together with a little gum paste glue and am letting it dry right now.

I used some white pearl dust to give the grey crown a silver sheen. I made the jewel in the center out of electric pink gum paste and covered it with hot pink disco dust. 

Here's a close up of the detailing on the sides: 

And here's the smaller one for the smash cake: 

I LOVE how they turned out!!! Absolutely adorable! Even better than I had ever planned!!! They'll be great cake toppers! 

 

I let those dry for over a week before I planned to use them. It helped them set up a little better and hold up for me.

Now it's time to start building the actual cake. 

She requested a pink zebra stripe pattern inside the cake, which I had never attempted before and was looking forward to trying! I saw about a billion pictures online of batter layered on top of each other until the pattern was made, so I figured I could try it myself. 

I used a measuring scoop and layered scoop after scoop after scoop on top of each other, allowing it to spread out a little between each scoop, until my cake pan was full enough. I made three 4in, two 6in, and two 10in rounds. 

I baked them @325deg for a while, almost an hour. And when they were done they looked like this : 

I cut off the top and flipped them out. They ended up looking like this (which I think is really rather cool) : 

After I cut the top of the cake off (to make it even before I turned it out) I took the scraps, stacked them, and cut them the way you would slice the cake. It DID look like a pink zebra! 

After letting the cakes cool it was time to stack and crumb coat them (I know I don't need to crumb coat it because I haven't really cut any edges but I am a perfectionist, so I do anyway). 

Next it was time to frost and decorate each tier.

I started with the two top layers, frosting and laying the polka dots on it....but got so busy I forgot to grab a picture before I got them in the box...oops! :) 

Then onto the zebra stripes. It was hard for me to be so random with my pattern but it worked out for me. 

All you have to do is roll out your fondant, cut strips(make sure they're not perfectly even), and place them all over the cake. Cutting your strips diagonally into triangles helps give you the more natural zebra stripe. 

I just had to put on the name plaque and pink glittery pearls around the bottom and that tier was finished! :) 

After safely transporting the cakes to her house, it was time to put it all together! 

I stacked the pink 6in cake ontop of the zebra tier to finish it off (also finishing the top tier with glittery pink pearls as well). 

It came out SO WONDERFULLY!!! I cannot get over how much I love it. 

AND it turned out exactly like the picture: 

And I made a matching smash cake for Baby Sophia to eat :) 

This was SUCH A FUN project! I loved working with these colors and this concept! It looks super girly but still crisp, clean, and trendy! I LOVE it!!! :)