Olivia Cooks in Holland: 2015

01 June 2015

MARIO BROS. BIRTHDAY CAKE

I've been MIA for a month now, busy with stuff in real life but I want to take a little moment to share something that warms my heart a little bit this weekend :)

It was my nephew's birthday last week and a while ago he already requested that he wants a Super Mario birthday cake. He's been on Mario craze for a few months and plays it most nights on Wii. So, last friday I went to my sister's to prepare for his birthday celebration. Got there at around 7 PM, had dinner, and went to the store to buy ingredients for the cake and started baking around 9 PM. In total, it took me about 5 - 6 hours to finish the whole thing. I made a simple chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, his favorite.

A little sidenote, I'm a big fan of cake boss, I watched the show religiously when it is on and that was the first time I saw fondant and how to use it for a cake. I used to make a lot cake with fondants but for a couple of years now I've stayed away from it. I always thought it was too sweet, it didn't add much to the cake and a lot of people normally don't eat it. But I decided to use fondant anyway for this one because it would look best, with the colors and decorating the cake.

Anyway, while I was waiting for the cake to cool and the mousse to set, I made the little Yoshi eggs and the Piranha plants. I bought an egg mould a few weeks ago and made the eggs using tempered white chocolate and green food coloring. For the plants, I didn't want to use fondant so I made it out of strawberries. Sliced an opening for the mouth and put some white chocolate to create the lips and little dots on the sides.

The next morning after my nephew had breakfast and had opened his presents I asked him to come to the fridge because I had a fun surprise for him. When he opened the fridge and saw the eggs and the plants, he had the biggest smile on his face and was so excited for me to finish the cake. I told him okay, I need to cook some other stuff first for your party and I will finish the cake in the afternoon. He said okay and continued playing with his new toys.

When his grandparents came around 2 PM, he gave them a big hug and immediately told them, "Come to the fridge! Come to the fridge! I've got something to show you!!" And then he showed them these two miniature things I made last night.

It made me reaaaalllllllyyyyy happy that he was so excited after I showed it to him in the morning and hours later when his grandparents came, the first thing that he wanted to show them wasn't his new toys, not his new bike, no presents or the balloons decoration or the garlands with his name on it, but instead he pulled them to the fridge to show them these two little things. I really thought it wouldn't mean that much to him but I guess it did.

It took me only an hour to make them and quite honestly it wasn't perfect.. When I was making them I kept thinking "Ugh.. I think there's not enough fun stuff for me to make and put on the cake. :( The cake is not going to be that great" Although I know he was going to be excited about the the cake, I was being hard on myself. My worries all went away and my favorite moment last weekend was when I saw him saying "Look! Look! Look!" and pointed inside the fridge with the biggest smile on his face. Love you K! Dikke kusjes and knufel!