Coolest Little Mermaid 4th Birthday Cake

My daughter loves Little Mermaid, Ariel, so I decided to make her 4th birthday party theme Ariel. I made the Little Mermaid 4th Birthday Cake from scratch. The cake was very moist and tasted better than box (recipe to follow below.

I used a 6″round pan and 8″ round pan. Covered both layers with a buttercream frosting tinted light blue then I took a fork dipped the ends into blue food coloring to make the dark blue waves all over the sides of the cake. The coral, fish bubbles, seaweed and my daughter’s name were all made from royal icing (all made weeks ahead of the party).

The fish on the cake were basic sugar cookie recipe then frosted with royal icing. The cake topper was one of my daughter’s Ariel dolls that I covered in plastic wrap then took fruit roll ups to make her into a mermaid. The shells on and around the cake were made of white chocolate using the Wilton shell molds (Micheals).

Around the base of the cake I used brown sugar to look like sand. For the happy birthday sign I used a computer program for the font and adhered to a shell shape made by using my cricut machine. The seaweed, bubbles, fish and birthday sign were then all attached to lollipop sticks (Micheals) using royal icing. I also added blue curling ribbon to the bubbles sticks for a extra detail.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake:

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2(1-oz) squares semi-sweet baking chocolate,melted

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 Tbsp.baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup warm water

1 cup sour cream

Heat oven to 350 F. In large mixer bowl, beat vegetable oil, egg,and vanilla for 1 min. at high speed; add sugars and beat 1 min; add melted chocolate and beat 1 min. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, then add to chocolate mixture alternately with water, beating well after each addition. Add sour cream and mix well. Pour into two greased and floured 8-inch round pans and bake 30 -35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pans to cool completely before frosting.