campground cake

My neighbor turned 40 and I was honored to be able to make her a birthday cake. In my mind I pictured tombstones and being over the hill, but her husband had a different approach. Susan really likes to go camping and he wanted to focus on what she likes rather than focus on her getting older.

This cake was a lot of fun to make. It makes me happy when a cake turns right. I think my favorite thing is the picnic table made out of chocolate.


I made the trees with buttercream frosting. If you attempt to make these trees, don't use buttercream. Use Royal icing. The tree on the left had half of its boughs drop off one side. After I fixed that, the tree on the right in the back had it's boughs sink all the way to the ground. Originally the tree on the right had a trunk showing like the tree on the left, but after it sank, I had to fill it all in. Still, I love the way the trees look.


Here are two of Susan's daughters, Ally and Emily. I had to redo all of the people because the first set of people I made were as large as the trees and there was just no way I was going to fit 6 people that big on this cake.



Susan and Tom standing on top of the hill. Or maybe you could say they are coming over the hill....


And here's Nathan and Haley hanging out by the fire. I was thinking about having the them holding a stick with a marshmallow and putting graham crackers and chocolate on the table. I was going to grind up graham crackers and cover the path in crumbs so it had texture but I had to call it quits some time.


I think it's funny that there are waterfalls on both sides of the river. The camper in the back is a little top heavy because it is made entirely out of fondant. I love the bugs too. You can't go camping without bugs.