"M-Alice In Wonderland": My Birthday Party 2009

 

I chose the "M-Alice In Wonderland" theme for my birthday party this year.  It was intended as a kind of bizarre tea party gone awry.  It lived up to that goal and then some.  Here I am as "M-Alice". 

 

 

I made my own cake, of course.  The cake itself was a checkerboard cake assembled from strips of white and chocolate cake so that when cut they resemble a checkerboard.  There are kits for this kind of thing but they only come in small round 9" cake pans and I wanted to do a larger rectangular cake, so I had no choice but to do it by hand.  It was tricky, and I miscalculated the number of layers I needed, so I ended up with a shorter cake and a surplus of white cake, but it worked out in the end and was a three layer checkerboard.  To do it properly I would have needed another layer of chocolate.  But it turned out fine since my carb-fearing guests didn't finish the cake anyway, opting more for liquid refreshment ;) 

I stayed up late making all of the integral Wonderland characters,my versions of them.  It is important to me when making novelty cakes and edible art that it in indeed is completely edible, making it a greater challenge.  Therefore I don't want to use anything plastic or cardboard or foam, etc.

Most of the figure forms are built of marshmallow and draped in fondant (Alice, White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat) while the other ones (Caterpillar, Mad Hatter's hat, Red Queen and King) are built completely of fondant.  Their feature and accent pieces are made of rolled and cut Mamba candy, or candy such as licorice, sprinkles, dragees, etc.  I also made a tiny tea set out of a meringue, fondant and dragees.  I really enjoy these tiny obsessive tasks I can get lost in.  I get it from my mother ;)

I also made cookies in the shape of playing cards (for Alice's croquet match with the Red Queen) and tiny chocolate cupcake "gardens".  

I can't believe David sat patiently for so long carefully placing the little flower candies and sprinkles in a specific color scheme and arrangement.  They turned out adorable.

 As you can see I have now reached the "flammable" age (where it takes so many candles to count your years that things get a bit... flammable.  It's a valid worry when you are at a costume party covered in wigs, feathers and highly flammable materials ;)

 I always like to document the aftermath.  I couldn't bear to toss the rest of the cake, but I couldn't bear to eat it either so it sat in the fridge for awhile.  Interesting how the figures in their melted disarray bore a striking resemblance to me and my guests at the end of the night ;)