Zoo Cake

My son turned 4 on Saturday.  He ordered up a “Giraffe Cake”.  I asked if it would be ok to make giraffes to put on the cake instead of a big cake that looked like a giraffe and he said, “Yes, and monkeys, and hippos, and tortoises ’cause those are my favorites.”  So I went to work. 

My son’s favorite color is green so naturally the icing had to be green.  I tinted vanilla buttercream grass-green and also a little moss-green for a contrast.  I also made a small batch of chocolate buttercream for the tree trunks.  The cake was chocolate, his favorite.  I stacked 6 inch layers on top of 10 inch layers.  The animals were all made from modeling chocolate.  This was my first attempt with modeling chocolate and I love it!  It’s so much easier to work with than fondant and it tastes way better.

The hippos had to be placed in blue water, naturally…

The  monkeys near a tree…

The tortoises in the grass with some leaves to eat.  We were informed that turtles are the ones that swim so these were tortoises. 🙂

And the giraffes were near his name, of course.

He was pretty pleased with his fourth birthday cake.  I have to say that I was too!