Fake Pandas Have More Fun (Part Two)

So last year I made one of my besties a cake that was called "Fake Pandas Have More Fun".  It was based off a t-shirt design from Threadless. 

Well Threadless started an online cake competition called Threadcakes and this year I am going to enter as many cakes as I possibly can.  For the next couple weeks I will be super busy performing in the chorus of Nine:  The Musical so I plan on busting out two cakes before Monday.

I decided to make the Panda cake one more time, and this time I will do it better than before!!!

The rules for Threadcakes states that you must take pictures of the whole process.  I got just a little camera happy and took a TON of pictures!

Shall we begin?

I used a box vanilla cake (or was it yellow?  Read the box) since it would be easier.  Its all about the decorations.

Me and Betty Crocker go waaaay back!

All of those above pictures were pretty self explanatory.  Mix and bake.

After the cakes cooled for a bit I cut off the tops and stored them in the fridge until I was ready to frost and cover.  I took each cake and sliced it in half.  This is actually called torting (if you were wondering).

 

















Add some frosting to the middle and slap on the top.

At this point in time I was contemplating my design.   I wasn't sure if I was going to make the next tier an actual tier or if I was going to keep the cake the same size throughout.

So I crumb coated this layer just in case I decided to make it tiered.

After much thought I decided that the cake should be one size.  I actually needed more room to paint on the design so this worked out perfectly.

Slapped on another torted piece of cake and continued to crumb coat. 

That is so funny.  I didn't take a picture of the completely crumb coated cake.  Oh well.  On to the fondant.  I haven't actually made a cake in forever, let alone covered anything in fondant.  I know what you are thinking "What is fondant?"  Fondant is a sugar dough that is edible (but...I don't eat it) and it give the cakes a nice smooth finish.  Most wedding cakes are covered in fondant.

I use the Wilton brand.  Mostly because its the only kind I can find on the island.

Roll it out.

Roll it up and get ready to cover...

Hey...where did that line come from?  Well that will be the back of the cake.   Otherwise then that I did an AWESOME job covering this one!

On to the decorations.  I am going to make the panda head with some gum paste and bamboo sticks.

Sorry, I didnt know this shot was so blurry...its artistic...yeah.

Hello Panda!

Not too bad right.  He will look better when he is painted.

YAY!  Now on to painting the cake.

So I totally forgot to take pictures of the process.   I got caught up in the painting that I forgot to take pictures of the steps.