This happy birthday cake was for my brother’s surprise 16th birthday party. The idea came from the fact that we sent a Hummer limo full of his friends to pick him up for the party.
To prepare the Limo happy birthday cake, I first baked three 13×9 pans of red velvet cake. Then I freehand cut and layered it to the shape of a limo. The limo is probably about 1 and 1/2 times the length of the pan and 7 inches wide.
I then covered it in dark chocolate buttercream. For the black finish, I made black modeling chocolate instead of fondant because it tastes better. To make it use about 6 cups of milk chocolate chips, 1 cup of corn syrup, and a 1-ounce jar of gel black food coloring. Cool completely. The chocolate will become moldable and able to roll out to cover the cake.
To decorate the limo I used colored buttercream for the windows. For the wheels I used semi-sweet chocolate molded in a cupcake pan and covered in black edible glitter. The hubcaps and front grill were made from white chocolate modeling paste for the shape and covered in edible food-grade silver leafing. The snake on top and on platter was hand molded from marzipan and colored with spray food coloring.