Giraffe Birthday Cake

Last week was my best friend's birthday and she asked for a giraffe cake, because she is a giraffe :)

I haven't worked with fondant too much and this was my first time molding it and I was pretty happy with the results. I used this picture and used it as a guide for molding my giraffes and put them on top of a milk chocolate cake, filled with cherry Italian buttercream, and iced with Italian buttercream.

A few roses, and some grass and voilà! its now a giraffe in a rose garden cake.

Happy Birthday Yoohoo! <3

Milk Chocolate Cake
(adapted from Anne Thornton )
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 cups AP flour
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1  cup milk
- 1/2 cup fresh brewed coffee, room temp


Italian Buttercream
(adapted from Le Cordon Bleu)
- 7 oz egg whites
-  13 oz sugar
- 1 oz corn syrup
- 2 oz water
- 1/2 oz  vanilla extract
- 16 oz butter, room temp

American Buttercream (for roses, grass and border piping)
(adapted from Le Cordon Bleu)
- 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
-  1/4 tsp salt
- 6 oz shortening or butter
- 4 oz water (variable)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and parchment line 2 8 inch round cake pans.
Cream the butter and the sugars in a mixer until light and fluffy. Meanwhile, sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl. Add eggs, one at a time to the mixer, scrape down the bowl as needed and mix until well combined. Add the melted chocolate, and vanilla into the mixer.

Mix the coffee and the milk together. Add the dry and wet ingredients into the mixer bowl, in thirds starting and ending with the dry until no more flour is seen and it is a smooth batter. Don't over mix.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, checking for doneness by inserting a tooth pick and having it come out clean.

Let cool in the pans for a few minutes and them carefully invert onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting.

For the Italian buttercream:
In a mixer, whip the egg whites until it looks like a cappuccino foam, and you can't see any more raw egg. Meanwhile, in a saucepan mix the sugar, corn syrup and water together. Boil over medium heat until the mixture reaches 240F or soft ball stage.

Turn the mixer on high and slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the mixer. Beat the eggwhites until they cool down (check by touching the bottom of the bowl) and become very shiny and stiff.

Add in the butter, small cubes at a time with the mixer running until its all incorporated. It will break during the mixing process but don't worry, once all of the butter is incorporated it will fluff back up. It will look like over-whipped whipped cream. Add the vanilla and any other flavorings at this point.
[ I reserved about 1 cup and mixed with the maraschino cherry juice for the filling of the cake]

For the American Buttercream:
With a paddle attachment, beat the butter or shortening until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Add water until desired consistency is acheived and then add salt and vanilla.
[I added pink, purple, and green food coloring to this buttercream]

To frost the cake:
trim the cakes evenly so they are flat and can stack evenly and straight. Fill the cake with some of the Italian buttercream. Crumb coat the cake with a thin layer of the Italian buttercream and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes so it can set up. This is a good time to do some dishes!

Frost the rest of the cake, as best as you can. Use a spatula dipped in hot water to smooth out the sides. Chill the cake to let it set for another 20 minutes or so.

Decorate as you wish, I piped shells and rosettes with an Ateco 842 tip around the border, and piped two roses. I used the grass tip, and the leaf tip as well.

For the giraffes: I didn't take pictures as I was doing this unfortunately. I used a white chocolate fondant that I dyed part of it orange, brown, and black. Use gloves and just massage the food coloring into the fondant  and the parts you are not using must be covered with a cloth or plastic so it doesn't dry out.

For the body, make about a 2 inch long and 1 inch diameter body. Take a small ball for the head and taper off where the mouth/nose would be and make the part by the ears a little wider.

For the ears, take another very small ball and flatten it slightly, taper off both ends and use a tooth pick to make an indentation. Attach to each side of the head.

For the eyes, use white and black and make small and smaller balls and flatten them onto the face.

For the spots, use the brown fondant. I took some small pieces and just flattened them randomly onto the body, all different shapes and sizes.