Okay, I got a call TODAY from a friend who is having a surprise party for her mom's 50th on TUESDAY and needs a cake. (nothing like leaving it to the last minute!)

Anyway, her mom LOVES animals (especially farm-time animals) and even has them painted on her kitchen/dining room walls! When I got home I decided to just mess around with some leftover (already colored) fondant I had and made some animals. I hadn't sculpted anything since my play-dough days, so they're not the best

Anyway, I need ideas. I don't think they want to play up the age thing, so no over the hill cracks (darn!). I really want to do something cool, though, not just stick the animals on the cake and say 'here you go!'. What should I do? I'm open to any suggestions! This lady also really likes putting together puzzles, and she enjoys cooking and sewing .

Here are my funny little animals:

Looks great, how about a "Farm Theme". Add some grass and a fence, Happy Birthday. It should reflect her mom's passion not her age. If you can look how her house is decorated that should give you ideas on how to put it together. Good Luck.

Your animals are ADORABLE! Nice job!

i think that they are cute great job.....maybe a barn theme ive seen a couple of cute cakes like that on here.

I agree with the farm theme. Maybe if you could make a barn with animals inside on the bottom and inside on the top - like the chicken/rooster in the opening at the top of the barn (i have no idea what it is called (maybe it is called a loft) )!!

this might be hard - but i figured by looking at your animals (WHICH ARE AWESOME) that you can do anything!!!!

Good luck - I can't wait to see what you do.

You're 50!!!
Party till the cows....and pigs....and sheep....and chickens come home!!!
Have more fun than a pig in a poke!

Lotta words, I know. Sorry - the only other thing I could think of involved being put out to pasture!

Hay! Maybe you could make the cake look like a pile of hay, with the animals sticking out of it, model the birthday girl sticking out of the top with straw in her hair.

Dunno.
Ali

Okay, the way I see it, you don't want to play the age card, but how can you resist? Not withstanding, you can still go with the barn theme, but what if you made a chicken with a spring beneath it.... you know, as in "Spring Chicken"?

Debbi

Wow, thanks for all the great feedback so FAST! I'm glad you like my animals... when I asked my hubby he said they were 'okay'

I think I may go with the barn idea, although I'm not sure how well I'd be able to pull it off... I haven't done anything like that before!

Thank you again for the great suggestions, I appreciate all the help I can get!

lol @ the spring chicken idea Debbi... I may have to use that

How adorable You did such a nice job on those. I am she will be pleased with anything you do.

Love the chicken! He's really cute. They all are cute!!!!!


Amy

I love your animals! Did you have a book or pictures to go by or are you just that talented?

Maybe you could do something with a 'barnyard birthday party'. Maybe have a sign about a party hanging on corral/fence, put party hats on a couple of the animals with them standing around a small fondant 'cake'.

Cindy

Thank you everyone for your nice comments!

crp7 - I didn't have any pictures to go by, since I hadn't planned on making them. They would probably look a bit better if I'd thought of that first! . I really like the barnyard birthday party idea... I may incorporate that with the barn... maybe have a banner on the barn rather than the fence - what great ideas!

Your critters are adorable!
Hugs Squirrelly

You did an amzing job on you animals!! They are so cute and I am soooo jealous!!! I have yet to get this whole sculpting thing down. I haven't even been able to make a head yet! But I am inspired by your triumph! I just hope that I am a bit as good as you. Your look fantastic! As for the hubby, he just isn't excited as we cakies are about this kind of stuff. But maybe when he looks again and finds out how you accomplished this he will see what he didn't see the first time. I think they are great!!!!

Tanya

Great animals.. they look cute..

for your cake how about making a hilly field with the animals graseing and a pond at the bottom of a hill with little ducks on..etc... with a little picket fence partly around the pond.....

grem xx

"Okay"?? Those are great!! You did an awesome job for someone who hasn't sculpted since the play-doh years.

I like the farm or barn ideas. If it was a sheet cake, you'd have enough room to do a farm land. A barn would be cute too. The "Spring Chicken" line is perfect.

The barn yard theme is a good one! and if you don't want to to a "stand-up" barn you can maybe decorate a sheet cake to "LOOK" like a barn and still place your cuties around...

you can also pile them around in the corners, off the corners..lol

they may not want you to "play up the age thing" but you can sneak it in by adding 50 barnyard animals into the decor..lol

easily done....make a mother hen and chicks..a sow with piglets....get the drift? lol

Please post a picture of your cake, we would love to see it!

Oh My Gosh..they are so cute.. I am sure she will love them.. What a great idea.
Liz

You did a really good job on your animals!

Well, after everyone's encouraging words and fantastic ideas, I called my friend today to finalize the details (since the party is Tuesday!). She said it sounded great and she couldn't wait to see the cake.

Two hours later (after I've drawn out my plans) her SIL (the birthday lady's DIL) calls me and says that she doesn't think the animal theme would be 'appropriate' and couldn't I just do a pretty cake with some flowers on it?

Yeah, sure, if you want the cake to look as AVERAGE and GENERIC as possible! Talk about disappointed! I thought I was going to do an awesome cake that really reflected this lady's interests, but it's been vetoed in favor of a plain old boring cake!

I'll still do a good job and make it as pretty as possible, but I'm so bummed because I had it all planned out in my head and it was going to be so cool.

Thanks again anyway for all the great ideas, and thanks for letting me vent! You guys are great!

Oh yeah, AND she said "it doesn't have to have a lot of decoration on it, I bought some candles shaped like '50' and some COLORED SPRINKLES."

*deep breath*

Colored sprinkles have their place, just not usually on MY CAKES.

At least I'm getting paid!

This is gonna sound mean, but it is what I would do....

You could make the PLAIN cake and let the DIL present it to her. BUT, make a small cake like an 8 inch round with the animals on it and give it to the mom as a gift from YOU! (Since the bigger cake isn't that involved and making a smaller cake...wouldn't be that much trouble either)..

This would make the DIL look like a ______. She would be so embarrassed giving her the plain cake when you had such a fantastic idea. (not that your plain cake would look bad at all, just not as creative as you had hoped to do for her) You could even (if you wanted to....write on the cake something like "Happy Birthday from all of us at Eden's cakes" That way, this shows the cute cake is from YOU!!!

(I hope y'all don't think I am mean....but you had such good ideas only for them to be dismissed.... )

Leslie

Leslie, I LOVE your idea - I just wish I had the balls to actually do it!

I was tempted to make the plain cake all pretty, and still stick the animals on there to see her reaction but I'm just not that mean...

Is the DIL the one paying you?
I would talk to your friend and tell her that you had hoped to make what you had discussed and would it be a problem for you to go with the original idea.

It sounds like there is some mis-communication going on. I would follow the instructions of the person paying.

I wouldn't have had the guts to do it either....even though it sounded good when I wrote it. LOL

I am sorry... I know how disappointed you must feel. After you spend so much time thinking up something fantastic only to not get to do it.

I know you will find a good customer for those ADORABLE animals!!!

Leslie

Well, you could do the generic cake but put it on an oversized cake board and still surround it with your adorable critters, I can't see how that would create any issues, but then, you know, that is just me and I tend to think that it is better to please the birthday girl! And sometimes I do have nerve, haha! They could be munching on flowers that match the cake.
Hugs Squirrelly

i love squirrellycake's suggestion of having the animals placed around the cake and munching on the flowers (you could some vine-work on the sides of the cake, so the animals could chew on those).

too bad about the change of plans, edencakes; i loved the idea of the barnyard birthday party -- i did a similar design with a banner, and canadiana-type animals (beaver, moose, codfish, etc.) seated around a tree-stump draped in a canadian flag for a canada day competition many years ago (the animals were drinking out of martini glasses too). it was a hoot.

Your animals are so cute!!! Nice job





Daniela