For a zoo, jungle or simply elephant-themed birthday party, displaying elephant imagery on the cake will help tie the theme together. The birthday cake typically serves as the highlight to the party refreshments, making its integration of the party theme important. The elephant can be created using a variety of decorating techniques and materials, from frosting to candy. Does this Spark an idea?
Elephant-Shaped Cake
Bake a round cake for the elephant's head and an additional square or rectangular cake to form the signature elephant ears and trunk. Once baked and cooled, carve two curved ears out of the sides of the rectangular cake, placing them on either side of the round cake. Use the round baking dish as a stencil guide to cut an inner edge to the ears that fits snugly around the circle cake. The outside of the ears should resemble the outside of figure eight shape. Use the remaining cake from the rectangle cake to carve a "J" shaped elephant trunk, positioned at the bottom of the round cake. Frost the cake with gray icing to tie all the pieces together.
Elephant Cupcakes
Bake a batch of cupcakes to serve as the birthday cake; once baked and cooled, coat each with a layer of gray frosting. Place two small wafer cookies onto the top of each cupcake, using the frosting as an adhesive, so the edges of the cookies protrude off the edge of the cupcake. Once frosted, these will form the elephant ears. Cut pieces of licorice in half and stick them to the lower, top of the cupcakes as the elephant trunk. Use an icing bag to apply another coat of frosting to cover the cookies and licorice. Place two jelly beans on the cupcake as eyes to round out the elephant dessert.
Candy Elephant
Cover a traditional sheet cake with a layer of green frosting, which will serve as a vibrant background for the elephant image to pop out against. Collect a variety of blue or gray colored candies, such as jelly beans, to use in creating a mosaic style elephant on the cake. Place the candies onto the frosted cake to form an outline of the elephant body. Fill in with more of the gray or blue candies, using different colors, such as red and black, to add details such as a mouth or eyes. The candies will add an eye catching texture to the cake, as well as adding to the taste and enjoyment of the dessert.
Elephant Photo
Many bakeries now come equipped with printers able to produce images composed of edible ink. Use this modern decorating technology to create a lifelike image of an elephant on top of a birthday cake. Select an image of an elephant, or even family of elephants, and provide it to your local baker along with your cake order. Ask the baker to decorate the cake with the photo. Make the photo really pop by adding three dimensional icing, fondant and sugar details to the cake. For example, if the elephant photo is set in the jungle, ask the baker to create jungle vegetation out of icing around the photo.
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