Cutest Owl Cake and Decorations

I made the cutest (well in my opinon) owl cake last Saturday for my little boy's baby shower.  Unlike a traditional shower that happens before your little bundle of joy arrives, we had a welcome to the world shower.  Gavin decided to come 2 weeks before the scheduled shower and about 6 weeks before his due date.  I had never been to a shower for the baby after they were born so I had no idea what kind of invites to send out.  I finally thought of "Looks Whos Here" and that led me to the idea of owls.  I did not have a blog then so I only have a few pics, sorry but here are a few of my ideas. 

First, I googled owl cakes and found Anita's blog "Leave Room for Dessert" she had the cutest owl cake and great instructions.  I did not follow her recipe but I did use her idea of tracing my pans and then drawing my pic and cutting out my pieces.  I used a regular box of chocolate cake mix and added half a box of instant choc pudding to help the batter be firmer so it would be easier to work with and I used applesauce instead of oil.  (It was super yummy by the way) After I cooked the cake and it cooled for awhile I traced my pans and then drew my owl on those circles.  I then cut out my pattern pieces to see what I would need to cut from my cake. 

My cut out cake.  One whole round was left alone and I cut the other one up.  Again sorry I did not take pics of the process but check out Leave Room for Dessert for a more detailed tutorial.

Some of my pattern pieces.

I laid my pattern back on my cake to see where the frosting should go.  I used a toothpick to poke holes in the cake to leave the design so I could frost around it.  And I was not exact so just have fun with it.

I made my own icing from a Wiltons box that I bought from Michaels.  I don't like the super sweet stuff so I used the whipped icing.  It is yummy but it does not get firm so it will not show the details that buttercream will.

Frosted cake :)

I made one large bowl of icing and then pulled out a little bit at time to color. I used the Wilton icing dye not food coloring and I used M&Ms for the eyes.  Over all I think it was adorable, not professional but perfect for me and my boys will know it was made with love. 

I also made the very few decorations for the party.  I could not find anything in the stores so if you can't buy it make it!  Way more fun and super cheap.  I picked up 6 pieces of felt from the store for 0.29cents each.  Then I drew out different owl parts wings, eyes, body, etc in differnt sized and started tracing on my material.  A little hot glue and a few buttons later (buttons were for the eyes) and here are my owls.


Felt owls (sorry bad picture and this is only a few of them.)

Anyway this was super fun and super cheap to do.  A store bought or professionally made cake would have cost me more than $20.  Mine was about $6 and a little time baking with my family and planning out the design.  The owls cost about $2.  I think it was successful have fun and if you make a owl cake let me know.

Linking to:
http://funkypolkadotgiraffe.blogspot.com/
http://www.ladybug-blessings.com/
http://www.creationsbykara.com/
http://www.733blog.com/
http://www.somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/
http://www.sugaranddots.com/
http://www.katiesnestingspot.com/
http://weliketolearnaswego.blogspot.com/
http://www.herecomesthesun-kelly.blogspot.com/
http://www.shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://www.504main.com/
http://www.kojo-designs.com/
http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/
http://www.chickenscratchny.com/2012/05/whats-cluckin-2-birthdays.html
http://thegrantlife.com/
http://www.watchoutmartha.net/