This Olaf cake began with a simple question. I asked my almost 5 year old grandson what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday (since his nonna always makes his birthday cakes) and he answered, “Olaf.”
“What,” I said, “is Olaf?”
Now I had done it. I was worried, as I had no clue what or who Olaf was and I was committed. Would it be too much? What if it was a flop?
Looking on different websites, I finally saw who Olaf was and fell in love with him too, just as my grandson Nate did. Olaf is cute and lovable and I vowed that even if it took me all day and night to make it, I would rather die than disappoint him.
Finding a template of Olaf was easy and I thought to myself, “I think I can do this.” Of course, everything looks easy until you try it and then it’s sink or swim.
One of the challenges I faced was deciding how big I wanted the cake. The template was for an 8 x 12 in. cake, which wouldn’t feed a gang of 15 children, plus adults. After a few trials and errors, I decided on enlarging it by 200% and it came out perfect.
- I baked 3, 9 x 13 in. vanilla cakes, just in case…
- I cut out the pieces and put it together on a sheet pan to see how it looked.
- After covering the pieces with a buttercream icing, I gently covered each piece with a homemade marshmallow fondant ( a bit tricky as it’s been a while since I covered a cake with fondant, especially since this one was cut in odd shapes).
- I made the eyes, eye brows, buttons and carrot nose ahead of time so they could dry a little.
Little by little, I saw it happening. Olaf was coming to life.
The face was challenging, especially the eyes, but somehow with luck and a little prayer to the cake gods, 3 hours later, I finished.
- I gave the buttons a shine by adding black sanding sugar and sprinkled white sugar flakes (snow) all over his body.
- Olaf’s hair is made of black licorice string and his arms are chocolate twizzlers.
In the end, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and gave myself a pat on the back. Determination, a will to please, and best of all the look on my grandson’s face and of all his little friends and family was what made it all worthwhile.
Awesome cake! you definitely nailed it!
Awesome cake! you definitely nailed it!
Awww…..cute!! Making cakes for my grandchildren is my motivation too!
Awww…..cute!! Making cakes for my grandchildren is my motivation too!
Can I ask how you scaled it up? Did you do it on the computer or by hand?
Can I ask how you scaled it up? Did you do it on the computer or by hand?