Plants Vs Zombies cake for my wee friend Spencer

I get the pleasure of making my wee friend Spencer's cake each year, you may remember his 4th birthday cake I just came to the shock realisation he will shortly be 6, so I thought I'd best share his 5th birthday cake with you. I made Spencer a simple sheet cake. Which I covered in green Satin Ice fondant.

The I used a checkerboard stencil and dusted green lustre over the squares, to make the playing squares of the game.

I tore some areas of the fondant, and filled the holes with ground up oreo cookies (creme filling removed) to look like the holes the plants grow up out of.

The grass is piped with buttercream icing using tip 233

All of the plants, potatoes and zombies are made from Chocit brand chocolate modelling paste. I found this much easier to use than fondant for modelling such small pieces.

The no#5 candle is from Kiwicakes

The flower pot is made using this mould

The characters on this cake were a ton of fun to make, and in Chocit did not take long at all.

Newsflash: The Dinosaurs are Extinct - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

This morning marks the start of a new school term, so there are probably many parents breathing a sigh of relief. I start this term with anticipation at the many new and exciting changes for my budding family. My partner started a new job today, my son happily started preschool this morning and my daughter has her school visit morning. Phew!

Being welcomed with a school Powhiri in the glorious sunshine was a lovely start to the day. During the formality my preschoolers were exceptionally well behaved. Then they decided to compare belly buttons as we were centre stage - that sure got some giggles! Talia was confident so I left her there with her new teacher and friends to get settled in. Next stop was preschool for the other kids. My wee man got straight in amongst it and happily waved mum goodbye.

This morning's activities meant that I was a little late to work today. So instead of turning on the oven I thought I could give you an update on the Curious Chocolate Dinosaurs that I made a couple of weeks ago for Talia's preschool leaving cake. Here is the finished product...

My plan to sit the dinosaurs atop a dirty, messy chocolate cake was extinguished by the nearly-birthday-girl who preferred a 'lemon cake please mum'. How could I say no to those lovely manners?! So the cake was bright and it drew gasps from the preschool children. They were eager to name the dinosaurs and to have a taste! I used a grass tip #233 to squirt out the green butter cream randomly on top and more condensed around the base. I popped a candle into the dinosaur's backs, sprinkled them with mini m&ms and it was easy done. At Kiwicakes we have a huge range of candles to suit any occasion so it's worth having a scroll through when ordering your other cake supplies.

I found that my modelling chocolate dinosaurs kept perfect colour and shape just sitting in my winter pantry waiting for their debut on a cake. This picture was taken at preschool 3 days after I modelled them at work and the remnants of the last surviving dinosaurs kept impeccably in my pantry for at least a week afterwards. This is such a cool medium to work with and I am impressed with its keeping qualities. However, our bright dinosaurs are now all extinct!

I would recommend to play it safe and do as I did, sitting the figurines on the butter cream just before serving. They may be less inclined to be volatile against a fondant-covered cake, but that is just my guess! If anybody has already tried this pairing with success I'd love to hear about it.

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