Happy 5 Month Birthday!

Happy 5 Month Birthday to my sweet little munchkin!  I can't believe she's 5 months old already...time is flying by!  This month I decided to do a winter theme for her cake.  I had frozen a 6-inch red velvet cake from Christmas Eve and had leftover icing from last weekend's Vines and Roses cake.  I dyed the icing with Wilton Sky Blue food gel and got this really pretty winter blue.  The snowman was cut from white fondant using gradutated circle cookie cutters.  I used black fondant for his eyes, mouth, hat and buttons and red fondant for the scarf and "5" on his hat.  I combined red and yellow fondant then added a dab of brown food gel to make the orange carrot nose. 

                                                            

 

 

Once I put the snowman on the cake I thought it looked too blank around the edges.  I gave this cake two layers of icing; the first layer was to catch all the crumbs and keep them in place and the second layer was to give the cake a nice smooth finish.  A few crumbs managed to sneak their way in to the top layer so I wanted  to cover them up as much as I could. 

I first placed little white balls of fondant around the base to look like snowballs, but I thought it still looked like it was missing something.  I didn't want to overdecorate it and buttercream that I hadn't dyed and piped on snowflakes using a Wilton piping tip #26.  At first I was only going to pipe them on the top half of the cake, but once I started I couldn't stop!  I held myself back from piping them on the sides.  I think it added just the right amount of background detail. 

                          Here is the finished product, with photocredit again going to my husband:)

I was able to fully decorate the cake-from first icing to last snowflake in about 2 hours while my daughter took a nap.  I think this is my favorite in Emma's "month"day cake series yet!  Each time I make these cakes I think back over the past month and all the milestones that she's reached.  I feel like my heart will burst with love for this little munchkin. Even though she can't eat them yet, I love to think of her looking back on pictures of these cakes when she's older.  I hope it makes her feel special that mommy baked her a monthly memory to celebrate all her milestones.  I already have the next two cakes planned out which is usually half the battle...