King Pig and Angry Birds Cupcake

My friend Myra and I made this cake together for her son's birthday.  She did the hard part which is baking.  I did the fun part which is decorating (with some help from Myra).  Myra also made matching Angry Birds cupcake to go with the King Pig.  This is how we made Mathew's King Pig cake and Angry Birds cupcake.

Myra used Wilton's "4-Tier Stacked Desert Tower "
to display the cake and cupcakes.  The cupcakes
are decorated with Angry Birds gummies that were
purchased at Claires in WEM and with round
rainbow sprinkles purchased at Bulk Barn.

These are Wilton's 6" round ball cake pan (Bulk Barn for
$9.99).   It needed 1 box of cake mix or 1 cake recipe. See
cake pan insert for baking instruction.  It is important to brush
the cake pans with shortening then dusted with all-purpose flour
 for easy removal of the cake. Keep the cake cool in the pan for
10 minutes.  Remove cakefrom the pan and let it cool on the wire
 rack for 6 hours.  Wrap in plastic wrap.  Decorate the next day.
**Note: Do not refrigerate.

The next day unwrap the cake.  Before attaching both cakes together to create a ball we need to ensure the flat part of the cake is levelled.  If not, trim excess cake.  Trim the dome of the bottom half of the cake (cake 1) for stability (see picture bellow).  Spread a tiny amount of icing (ie: a teaspoon) in the middle of your temporary cake board. ( **Tip: Never use "whipped" ready made icing. This icing is too runny. You need a firm icing to keep layers together.)  Set down the bottom half of the cake with "trimmed" part down.  Spread the buttercream filling on top.  Stack cake 2 on top of cake 1.  Your cake should now resemble a ball and it should be stable enough that its not rolling around.  Insert bbq skewer or straw through the middle of the cake to keep layers from sliding down.  Next is...

Spread a thin layer of icing around the cake.  Refrigerate
until icing is set.  Add another layer of icing.  Get the icing
as smooth as you can.  Refrigerate cake until icing is set
(about 1 hour).  While cake is chilling prepare fondant.
For the fondant your will  need Wilton's "Kelly Green" and
"Leaf Green" gel food colours as well as black gel food colour.  

For fondant colouring instruction click "here".  You need about 2 cups of kelly green fondant, about 1/2 cup of leaf green leaf green fondant, 1/4 cup of black fondant and small amount of white fondant for the eyes.  I used kelly green as the main cake colour, and on the ears .  Leaf green on the nose and eye bags.  Black on the ears, eyebrows, eyeball and nostrils.  Click "here" for how to cover shaped cakes with fondant.  I flattened two 1" balls with my thumb to form ears.  Cut bottom so it would lay flat on top of the head.  Attached head using 2 tooth pics.  For the snout you will need to make a 1 inch tall and 3" in diameter cylinder.  Flattened one side. The flat side will be attached to the chin as seen on the picture bellow.  For chin make a 1 1/2 " in diameter by 1/2 " tall cylinder.  Cut the mini cylinder in half.  Attach snout by smothering the bottom end with shortening and stick it on the desired part of the cake.  Decide where your nostril is going to be and insert 2 tooth picks there.  Do the same with the other nostril.  Make sure the tip of the toothpick is not sticking out of the snout.  Cover up both toothpicks with the nostrils that are cut using small round cookie cutters.  Eyes are made by using 1 1/2" round cookie cutter and the eyeballs are made by taking small balls of black fondant and squishing them.  I attached the eyeballs by brushing a little bit of shortening at the back.  Eyebrows are made by taking a little bit of fondant and rolling into fat noodles.  Cut them both into about one inch long and attach them on the face closer to the ears with shortening.

Here is the finished product.  "oink"!