HAYLEY'S 1st BIRTHDAY RAINBOW CAKE

Hayley wanted a rainbow cake for her first birthday. She made clear of that when we showed her a collage photos of cakes. She pointed to the same cake three times to confirm and nodded. Yes, she did! She's got this thing for rainbows (probably because her favourite book featured a rainbow of ribbons! LOL!) So we decided to bake her a rainbow cake complete with cupcakes. I wanted to make an anatomically correct one, all 7 heavenly layers! Here's some photos of my first ever 'layered' cake adventure.
THE PREP WORK

It all began with a sketch. The rainbow cake will sit on top of a cupcake tier.

Three tiers to house up to 100 cupcakes.

A close-up sketch of the Sun. Slowly resembling Hayley. He!He!

Slowly shaping the outline of the face with a fondant tool.

 You need a sketch to get the facial placings right.

 Pressing slowly and gently to shape the entire face.

Draw the shapes out for sizing and measurement. Proportion is key now. I hand cut and sculptured the main cloud which will sit on top of the cake. Making sure I have enough skewers to hold the cloud upright later.

Her name on a cloud and coated in edible sparkles.

I hijacked Stan's protein tub to shape the rainbow.

This is so much fun!

All the rows in UNISON! I was such a control freak that day.

I trimmed of the excess white base. So proud of my cute rainbow.

Baking the layers. I used a simple Vanilla Cake Base.

Wilton Colours really shine through. I refrigerated the cakes for awhile. I wanted a firm cake base when I trim the excess.

As I was doing this, I had to giggle non-stop. It was piling up like crazy and I was close to tears wondering If I should trim the cake more. or HOW AM I GOING TO TRANSPORT IT!!!??? (Note to self : NEXT TIME, DO THINK OF THE DELIVERY BOX!) Fortunately, I had a cake box in my store room big enough to hold this!

 THE CAKE ALL DONE!

Ta-da! Glorious! The cream cheese frosting was holding up well.

The Whole Cake and The Cupcake Tier.

I made Orange Poppy Seed Cuppies, Chocolate Fudge & French Vanilla Cupcakes.

Rainbow Coloured Crowns and Butterflies.

Cupcakes everywhere!

A Little Prayer for Hayley and Family.

This girl was all smiles that day! I really wished Meli was here with us that day.

I printed table numbers with Hayley's cute little portraits.

Love the ribbon trims around the tier.

We have a little sprinkles corner where you can decorate your own cuppies too.

Little Hayley and Big daddy.

Cute little family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!....

Ooooh! Check out the layers inside.

OMG! They were all so even. This is one well-behaved cake.

Yeah! Yippee!

Look at all the pressies!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!