Alice Cakes

I'm so thrilled about the upcoming Alice in Wonderland movie! Can't wait to see it. I was looking through some of the stills for the movie when I spied 3 of the loveliest cakes on the Mad Hatter's table. I think I just have to make them. It's madness but I can't help it. :)

I'll add photos of the cakes as I make them throughout the next couple of weeks. Even I can't wait to see them. The first one is baking up in the oven as we speak......

These three cakes will use a number of different techniques. On the first we have a four layer construction, iced and decorated. For the second cake we have a miniature tiered cake with colored icing and piping. On the last cake we have fondant covering, fondant leaves and fresh fruit topping. Each one comes with it's own techniques and challenges. Check back to see the three cakes inspired by the stills as I create them for my mad and wonderful family. I will be adding the pictures as edits to this post.

Alice Cake #1 Chocolate cake with vanilla chocolate chip icing. The first is this little cube cake with marshmallow details inspired by one of the stills. It's really cute. I baked a 10" chocolate cake and cut it into fourths to create a 5"x5" tower. I then stacked it using frosting between each layer. I added a wooden dowel in the center for stability before icing the outside. Had lots of fun shaping and smoothing it into a stylized (slightly mad) cube. Then I cut marshmallows and pressed them into the icing. Lots of mad yummy fun. :)
Note: I think this cake should be made of a sturdier cake if I'm going to cut and stack four layers. It was a little more difficult to make it do what I needed it to do with very soft textured cake. I might re-make this cake in the future with a different/sturdier recipe for the cake.
Alice Cake #2 Vanilla cake with Vanilla Butter Cream Fondant, raspberries, and LOVE. :) This cake is a 9" round one layer cake.