As I am the one to always make the birthday cakes for everyone, I made this for the daughter of friends of ours who was having her fifth birthday party at Build-A-Bear. She requested a teddy bear dressed in a purple and white cheerleader uniform. It sounds daunting but it was actually easier than I anticipated.
I built the cake out of one 9×13 and two 9×9 square chocolate cakes. The 9×13 was the base and the smaller ones built up on top; I simply carved out the 3-dimentional shape of a bear. I used some of the scraps to make the tummy and muzzle a bit higher. (You get a good portion of scraps from the legs which are considerably lower than the shoes.) I inserted Popsicle sticks down through the muzzle and tummy for added support.
I crumb coated the whole thing (see how at wilton.com) in cream cheese frosting and refrigerated till stiff. I then tinted another two tubs of frosting tan and frosted the whole thing again reserving a bit to tint black for the eyes and nose. I traced lines on the cake where fondant would be placed as a guide for me.
I mixed shredded coconut with cocoa mix for the brown furry look and covered all the frosting with it avoiding the areas I had marked for fondant. (The fondant wouldn’t have adhered well to the coconut.) I bought one of the small boxes of fondant (the kind you can pick up at Wal-Mart) and split it in half tinting one half purple by mixing in red and blue gel food coloring. It blended very smoothly. I used the fondant for everything you see on the bear except for the pennant pole which is a Popsicle stick.
Of course the shoes had to be Sketchers since that’s what they have at Build-A-Bear! I glued the fondant pieces together with just water. Finally I piped on the face. This is my first try at 3D birthday cakes, and it was quite a success!
More Cheerleading Birthday Cakes
Cake by Jean A., Louisville, KY
I used a Wilton ballerina bear pan and baked a cake in it. Instead of decorating as a ballerina, I redid the outfit some and the shoes to look like a cheerleader. I used blue, white, light brown and black frosting to decorate with.
Cake by Evelyn F., Donaldson, PA
I used the Wilton Wonder Mold to make the cheerleader. And the ball pan to make the basketball. The birthday girl is a cheerleader AND a basketball player, who’s mom didn’t know which to choose, so I made both.
Cake by Jere A., Chambersburg, PA
These are birthday cake photos of my daughter’s birthday party. I have made a cheerleader cake for her for the last 2 years – different uniforms, but the same type of cake. This is the most recent one. I use the Wilton doll cake pan – and a boxed cake mix – only one – and Wilton icing. The trick is how good I can copy the uniform just by looking at it.
