Setting the Stage

If my first cake of 2013 is anything to go by, it's going to be an interesting year ahead!

I was contacted by a Betty Boop fan for a cake of her favourite character but I only had 2 days to deliver so I suggested a simple flat fondant cutout of the burlesque flapper girl on the cake. She really wanted the character in 3D so she had an idea - have one of her Betty Boop porcelain figurines placed on the cake! I was a bit apprehensive at first but there is absolutely nothing wrong with a porcelain cake topper as long as you're very careful.

She went on to send me a few images of her Betty Boop figurine collection - she has many! and they are gorgeous ; ) I was also quite sure I'd have had a hard time replicating it as perfectly in fondant. I decided to pick one of Betty Boop kneeling on a star with the caption You're a Star

So essentially, I'm just setting the stage (in this case, one made of cake) for Betty Boop to step up on. The colour scheme is of course black and red and my client had wanted a rainbow cake. I thought it would be more stunning if she could cut into alternating layers of black and red cake instead! So I suggested layers of dark chocolate cake and red vanilla butter cake with cream cheese frosting.

The best of both worlds

It's a tall cake. I had it covered in white fondant and embellished with red and black hearts and floral cutouts. Then I had a plastic dowel support inserted into the centre of the cake and topped it off with a round plastic disc on which the figurine would sit without ruining the cake.

I also wanted to incorporate a design with stars as it would really look like a stage if there's a splay of stars around the figurine. I had some fondant stars cut out and attached them to springy wires so it could be the background for Betty Boop.

Centre stage

Just add figurine

With this order, I realise that as adults we hardly indulge ourselves when it comes to birthday cakes. If you have children, it's all about what they like and their birthday cakes are the highlight of the year. In this case, my client is finally getting a birthday cake and one she's always wanted.

Happy Birthday Evelyn