Monster Cake...

We are an every-other-year-birthday-party family. We do a fun 1 year old bash and then the next big party doesn't roll around until they turn four, after which they get a fun birthday on their even years. This year was an off year for Hunter. No fun themed party with balloons and extravagant decorations - Steve loves the off years! But it was still his birthday and the boy still needed a cake.

I am not a cake decorator. I made a monkey cake for Hallie one year and that's pretty much the extent of my cake decorating abilities. However, I have always loved the idea of being able to carry that skill in my back pocket in case I ever needed it. My friend Nicole does some killer cakes for her boys and I always admire her work. I was scouring pinterest one day and came across a cake. It looked easy enough so I set forth to accomplish. I'm one of those optimistic people that looks at something and thinks, it can't be that hard...all the while you're wondering how in the world they could make it look so good.

I'm not super confident in my cake baking abilities - getting a cake dense enough it doesn't crumble, leveling it off, light layers of frosting that don't have cake crumbles in them. It's just not my thing. So I opted for a rice krispie cake (it works for the guys on Cake Boss!). Really how can you screw up rice krispies? So this is what the "naked" cake looked like (not perfect, but it worked):

I then bought some orange Wilton gel coloring as well as Wilton tip #233 (grass/hair) and went to town using the Wilton buttercream recipe (my first time making buttercream frosting).

With small strokes I started to create a monster full of hair. The buttercream was a stiff consistency and it held the hair shape perfectly.

I then added three eyeballs (also rice krispies) attached to sucker sticks. And with very little skill and just a little bit of time, I had this little guy.

Hunter thought it was the coolest thing ever - 3 year olds are easily impressed!


We had been invited to a BBQ that night and we offered to bring some dessert. Knowing that rice krispies doesn't necessarily constitute as dessert, I made some chocolate cupcakes to match the cake - same tip as the cake, I then printed a large eye and taped it to a toothpick. Easy peasy.