Imagination Gone Wild Safari Cake

This was my son’s 1st birthday cake, so it had to be awesome! I started working on the animals a week before the cake. I took my time and had fun with each character. My son absolutely loved each one. Every time we walked by them, he would point excitedly and giggle with that adorable baby boy voice.

I created 3 different waterfalls before perfecting it on my 4th try. I used a combination of granulated sugar and isomelt to perfect the cascading water effect. This was an “oh-ah” effect! My son’s favorite animal seemed to be the lion, so I made another smaller version to use as the topper for his smash cake.

The cake itself was 3 tiers using a 14in, a 10in, and a 6in stack. It was enormous and very heavy! A great deal of detail went into perfecting this. This consisted of tiny leafs, vines, flowers, tiny animals (such as a frog and turtle), lily pads, a palm tree, a baby giraffe, a baby lion, a hippo and alligator submerged in the water, two baby elephants, two baby monkeys, and a palm tree. One playful baby elephant in particular won our hearts and was used as the topper. Everything was edible and made from icing, sugar, fondant, and gum paste. I was extremely happy with this cake, and everyone at the party seemed very impressed. I only wish the pictures did it justice!

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