Todd's Birthday Cake

I find it a challenge to come up with a cake that will surprise Todd on his birthday, especially given that he doesn't really like cake and that will be his only real enjoyment from it. Last year I did a football helmet cake from his favorite team. This year, I searched and searched to find a cake that would be fun. Also that weekend I made a cake for Austin's birthday party. I am finding that two cakes in one day really sucks. Austin got Spiderman and Todd got a monkey. I wish I had pics of Austin's cake, too, but the day ended up being a bit hectic and we forgot to pull out the camera.

For Todd's cake, I actually bought the cake from Costco already with the green background, which is why this cake is shaped well...my oven sucks and my cakes are lopsided when I bake them at home. Buying this cake from Costco was probably one of the best ideas that I have already had. They did the not so fun part and I got to decorate. In decorating, I used real sticks, a real banana and plenty of fondant. The outside "bamboo" is actually Pirouline Cookies. We just cut them at an angle to look like bamboo. Oh, and when I say "we" I mean it, because not only did the girls help with getting the fondant ready, they also put up most of the "bamboo" around the cake. I think that they did an excellent job.

I actually got quite the smile from Todd when he saw his cake, and YES...sticking my tongue out really does help when you are carrying a heavy carrot cake. (yuck, I hate carrot cake, but it is one of the few cakes that Todd will eat. He says it is selfless love on my part, given that I LOVE cake and still bought one that I don't like.)

Quick photoshop, so my blackout background kind of looks poopy.