My little granddaughter’s first birthday is coming. The kids are throwing an open house so friends and family can come by and celebrate the day. I always think it’s a lot of work to make a cake, that will then be destroyed by a one-year-old, just so there’s a funny photo in the album. With that in mind, I think I will make a giant cupcake cake and a few dozen cupcakes.
Trio of floral thrift store candlesticks used as cupcake displays make for a sweet presentation.
I just found three great ceramic candlesticks at the St. Vincent dePaul thrift shop. Three heights with a different pastel floral design painted on each of them. Add a plate on each and they become a fantastic cupcake display. Now to figure out a cake design that will compliment my new display pieces, as well as look like a little girl’s first birthday cake.
The one thing I knew I wanted to do was to make a crawling baby out of gum paste. Picturing the giant cupcake, I thought it would be cute to have a baby crawling up to the top where a candle is.
Pulling colors from the display, I made a vanilla with raspberry filling, fondant-covered giant cupcake. Half of the regular-sized cupcakes had raspberry filling also. I’m just going to frost the cupcakes and decorate with gum paste flowers.
Baby with pacifier crawling to top of cupcake.
I covered an already existing birthday candle with white gum paste and wound a lavender stripe around it. I made loops of different colors to make a bow around the candle. Flowers and a couple butterflies would finish off the topper. To trim the bottom of the cupcake I rolled a lot of little lavender balls and circled the base.
Children and adults alike enjoyed the cupcakes. We saved the giant cupcake for later. But best of all was the enjoyment on the birthday girl’s face, as she tasted a sweet dessert for the first time!
First birthday cake for my little granddaughter.
