Happy 1st Birthday Alexander!
I love doing a cake that is totally different and gives me the chance to challenge myself and do something I've never done before. Sure, it can be scary at times, not knowing exactly how a particular plan of action will work and needing to have a Plan B, C, and sometimes D! But it gives me the chance to learn some new techniques and get very creative in how I want to accomplish something. When Alex's mom called me about her idea for his 1st birthday party cake, I was really intrigued as she explained her vision.......a Spartan warrior-themed cake with a 3-D Spartan helmet smash cake. A smash cake is a small cake made just for the birthday boy or girl that they get to destroy and eat in whatever way they want. Who doesn't remember as a child wanting to just dive into that beautiful birthday cake and eat it with your hands? Well, smash cakes let kids make their cake-destroying dreams come true! They're so much fun. The rest of the cake is left to be cut and served to the party guests in "proper" fashion! :-)
The cake was covered in dark red fondant. The shield and spear were made from gum paste and then airbrushed with gold food coloring. The lettering was hand painted with the gold food coloring. The Spartan helmet smash cake was made out of cake. It was carved to get the proper shape of a head. Then fondant was applied over the cake in the shape of the helmet. The helmet was also airbrushed with gold food coloring.
The top of the helmet, the mohawk, was also made with a gum paste/fondant mixture in the same color of the cake. I was worried about the weight of the mohawk because it was quite heavy, but it all turned out just perfect.
I have to thank my amazingly talented husband, Shaun, for helping me with this cake. His eye for detail and unbelievable artistic capabilities made this cake possible. He thinks this was one of the coolest cakes ever to walk out of my bakery, and I have to agree. It turned out exactly how I envisioned it, thanks to his help. The best part was hearing back from Alex's mom on how much he loved the cake and how much all the guests at his party loved the cake, which always makes me so happy to hear.
