3D Minion Cake for Australia Day

A few days after my son's Minecraft birthday party was another joint birthday party for our kumpadre's (Hannah's godfathers). They are indeed very dear to us so I thought of making them a cake. Still in high spirits due to my first ever 3D Minecraft cake (see my previous post); the enthusiastic and eager me decided to try another 3D cake. I thought it would be a great opportunity to practice and play with fondant again.

I went on a search for 3D cake inspirations online and found so many but I just couldn't get over the cuteness of the  3D Minion cakes! I know it's a party for grown-ups but who could resist a Minion? Below are my favourites:

Image source: http://www.howtocookthat.net/

Image source: http://cakecentral.com/b/top-despicable-me-cakes

So on with the research. I  finally found this very helpful video tutorial on how to make a 3D Minion cake by a very talented mum- Ann Reardon:

http://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/despicable-me-2-3d-minion-cake-decorating-tutorial/

I watched the tutorial so many times and committed to making a Minion cake. I baked 7x of the chocolate recipe I used for the 3D Minecraft cake the day before the party which  was really a LOT of baking since I only have one round cake tin of favourable size that I can use. I also decided to make a "sitting-down Minion" cake instead of a "standing-up Minion"  due to budget and shortage of resources. I did not use buttercream frosting for this cake as you will see later.

That night I had a "lightbulb moment" to change the colour of the Minion's denim overalls to green as the celebration also coincides with the Australia Day weekend. The idea floated in my head and it got me really excited.

I used two different fondants:
1. The rolled buttercream icing from my previous blogpost for the  Minion's golden yellow skin and its green overalls and;
http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6219/rolled-buttercream-icing.aspx
note: for the above recipe, I found that I have to use 2 kg of icing sugar

2. The home made fondant recipe from this blog site for the eyes, hair, buttons and other accessories:
http://honestcooking.com/making-your-own-fondant/
note: I used half of the recipe

I haven't really tried out other rolled buttercream icing recipes but my son and I really liked this buttercream fondant because it smells like toffee and just melts in your mouth. Though in saying this I also wanted to try the traditional home made fondant and find out how its texture differs from the  buttercream fondant. I have personally learned that the home-made fondant is easy to prepare and cheaper as compared to buying a ready-rolled brand at the supermarket. I also discovered that it gets stiff faster than the buttercream fondant.

I followed the tutorial and made the eyes, goggles, buttons ahead of time and placed them in the fridge so they could harden a little bit.

Hannah "helping" me roll out some green fondant

The next day we also had to cook Pansit Bihon Guisado (a noodle dish), because that's what we have agreed to bring to the party. I used the recipe from the link below as a guide:

http://www.kawalingpinoy.com/2013/03/pancit-bihon-guisado/

Yum! Pansit guisado topped with Chinese sausages and prawns

Note: Though the name of the dish is pansit bihon, I personally prefer using the green bean vermicelli noodles or glass noodles because of its texture.

Unfortunately, in between cooking the pansit and getting ready for the party I ran out of time decorating the cake and my 3D Minion cake became the cake that never made it to the party :-(

My unfinished Minion cake

The celebration was a warm gathering of friends over a table full of scrumptous dishes and desserts. There were already sweets and baked goodies on the table like chocolate cake and Pavlova, so there was really no need for a  3D Minion cake that day.With our growing Pinoy group sharing stories and laughter over food- the party was great as usual.

Kain na tayo! Let's eat!

The next day, I was very lucky that hubby was home and took the children out so I had enough time to finish the cake in peace and quiet- too quiet actually. After almost four hours of epic fail moments while decorating the cake, I felt relieved that the final outcome wasn't as bad as I expected and still turned out to be a recognisable Minion cake in green overalls!

As you can see above, the yellow fondant didn't cling smoothly onto the cake.
I wondered if it would have been any different had I used buttercream frosting.

Tada! 

Now, what to do with this Minion cake smiling and sitting on the table? Ahhh..share it with friends while watching the Australian Open Tennis Championships.  HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY 2014!

How could I cut something so cute
and defenceless? 

Very well played Wawrinka :)
Photo source: Doris

Would I try making another 3D cake in the future?.......YES!