A Tale of Two Cakes

The wee one's birthday was back in February.  He likes Sonic the Hedgehog a lot and wanted a Sonic cake for his birthday.  As luck would have it, our two main grocery stores we shop at, Fry's and Wal-Mart, did not have Sonic cakes available to be made.  Avengers, yes.  Mickey and Minnie Mouse, yes.   Paw Patrol, yes.  And so on.  But no Sonic.  Because I spoil him so much and because he really wanted a Sonic cake, I found a person who makes cakes at her home and asked her if she could do a Sonic cake.  She sent me a picture of what she made (below).  I showed the picture to son and daughter in law and they loved the cake.  So I call the lady to order it, not really thinking about how much it would cost.  She told me $125.  I tried not to gasp too much and I ordered it.  (Side note, my wedding cake back in 1980 cost $125).   I had to put a deposit down on the cake (I can see why lol).  We picked it up from her house and it looked just as adorable as the picture.  This is not his cake as his name is not Devin and he turned 5.  Marble flavor is my daughter in law's favorite so that's what we got for this cake.  Oh my gosh, the cake was sooooo delicious.  Better than any cake I've ever tasted.  So moist, so flavorful.  Yum!  Usually I don't eat cake because I'm always watching my weight, but I took a bite of this one from my hubby's plate and I'm like "cut me a piece!"  Everyone agreed it was the best cake they had ever had.  The wee one loved it.  The lady who made it said it would serve 15-18 people.  It was only family for his party so it was more than enough for all there.  

So then his sister's birthday is this month, July.  She turned 16 years old and was having a pretty big party.  Because I try to be fair between the two of them I told my daughter in law we would get the cake for her party.  She wanted this one.  I guess the character with the yellow hair is Naruto .  She is really into anime.  I didn't even bother checking with the grocery stores if they could make the cake and the lady who made the Sonic cake was not available as she was recovering from surgery.  So I went online and found an edible cake topper with this picture.  I could order it and then put it on a cake of whatever size I wanted.  For example, I got a fourth of a sheet cake so we ordered the cake topper for that size.  

I knew absolutely nothing about these edible cake toppers but hubby figured we could get it on the cake.  So we ordered it online from Alabama and tracked shipment, having paid extra to get it there in time for her birthday.  I really didn't know what to expect, but it basically came looking just like above, flat like a piece of paper.  I found out later there are edible ink cartridges and I think these are printed on rice paper.  

Her cake was also marble and had a blue border on the bottom and around the top.  Otherwise, it was white icing with this topper going on top of the icing.  We learned our lesson if we do this again not to have a border around the top because my hubby had to cut a little of the cake topping to make it fit on the cake.  It wasn't noticeable what he cut.  

You basically unpeel the topper from the paper it comes in and place it on the cake.  You have to get it right the first time because it would be hard to remove it and try again.  It sticks to the icing and then infuses in the icing.  

I was amazed at the finished product.  

We also got 36 cupcakes to go along with the cake since there were about 40 people at her party.  We didn't stay for the cake cutting as the party was an all day one and we didn't want to be gone from Winslow that long, but the cake was a hit as well as the cupcakes with plenty for all but no leftovers.  So that was good.  

It was a lot cheaper than the Sonic cake even with the rush shipping.  

We had seen the edible cake toppers we could have ordered for a Sonic cake but I was very hesitant to try them back in February.  Now I would do it again in a heartbeat so if he asks for something unique for his 6th birthday, I would see what could be available online if our local stores don't make it.

Have you ever used edible cake toppers like this?