Angry Birds Chocolate Cake

Angry birds seem to be the rage now. Games, soft toys, thumb drives, etc. You see them everywhere. When I suggested angry birds theme for Ryan's 11th birthday cake, he said YES. I've never tried fondant or sugar paste and have never really wanted to try because they are just all made out of sugar. It's all too sweet .............. But I decided to them out anyway because I do not know what cake design to bake for a boy. 

I used ready-made fondant paste from Phoon Huat. Since this is just pure fondant paste (more for covering cakes), and will not harden and be firm enough for the shaped figures to retain their shape, I have to add sugar paste modelling gum to it before starting to knead and add colours. I started with the red birds and they looked quite real to me and this gave me the confidence to make the rest of the birds until the wee hours of the morning. The toughest part was making the small little parts like the tails and crowns. But they turned out not too bad. I was happy considering it was my first time playing with fondant and sugar paste.

Which bird do you like? Ryan and my niece liked the black bird.

After making the birds, I got down to work baking a 10" square chocolate filled cake. This is the biggest cake I've baked so far because it has to be big enough to feed at least 30 of his classmates who are coming to celebrate his birthday. It was a big party. My electric mixer bowl almost overflowed whisking 7 whole eggs in it. It was tough folding the flour into the batter without deflating the eggs too much. But the cake turned out alright, although not as high as I have hoped it to be. The cake is then sandwiched and frosted with heavenly Valrhona chocolate ganache and pearls. Just plain chocolate cake with angry birds adornment.

On the day of the party, the boys had a ball of a time playing soccer, nerf guns, beyblades, swimming and running all over. To feed their insatiable hunger, we had BBQ for them. When it was cake time, the boys went crazy over the angry birds and each wanted to have one of the birds. It was great fun and I'm glad Ryan and the boys had a great time before school re-opens and they have to study hard for the year-end exam.