Brobee Cake

Well, it happened again everybody. What happened, you ask? I reached an absurd state of euphoria JUST from baking a birthday cake. You remember when it happened last year? I think this year surpassed the rainbow. Or, TOOK THE CAKE if you're a fan of puns. (Which I am clearly not, ahem, SIRIously delicious say what??) SO. For my son's 2nd birthday, and after careful consideration of all your comments (not really), I chose to make a Brobee cake. The Man himself...


My inspiration. My buddy.

I loosely followed this recipe, and here are a million step-by-step photos. But don't let the many steps scurr you away. There is a moral to this post, my friends, and it is this... no matter how much you mess up you can end up with a GLORIOUS CAKE!!! And here is proof...

Step 1: Bake 3 cakes (I chose a store-bought classic white). In hindsight, I really only needed 2 cakes. But you might want to err on the side of caution and bake 3 to give yourself more to work with. Besides, is there anything the matter with too much cake??


Step 2: While cakes are baking, pour 2 bags of flaked coconut into 2 large plastic ziplock bags. Add 1 T of water to each bag. In one bag, add some green food coloring and in the other, add neon green (which you can buy at your grocery store). Shake it up!


Grandma Gigi shaking and... Brobee fur/coconut! Also looks a lot like shredded lettuce. (I have leftovers that I froze because I thought they'd work well in Easter baskets as grass! How clever am I?!)


Step 3: Once cakes have cooled, you can begin carving. Here is the part where I messed up. Instead of baking all 3 cakes the same, I chose to make one with mascarpone, like these cupcakes. Well it tasted delicious, but it totally fell apart coming out of the pan...


...and I dealt with some unevenness...


...but after some adjusting, carving, cutting, etc, I had a Brobee shape! Head, torso and legs, two arms, and three crowns. I used some frosting too make sure everything stuck together.


Step 4: The frosting. I bought 3 tubs of whipped vanilla (if you're really feeling like SuperMom, make your own) and dyed 2 tubs with a small amount of green coloring.


With paper, cut out the shape of the eyes and place it down on the cake as a marker. Frost the entire cake, including the sides...


...then you can remove the paper and frost the eyes with white frosting.

Step 5: Start making your Brobee stripes with your colored coconut!


Remember to put on your sirious face.


Step 6: The final touches. Take the frosting you have left, and dye some of it red. Frost Brobee's horns with red frosting. Take licorice and mold it for the mouth (I let the licorice sit out in the sun so it was easier to shape, and I also sliced it in half to make it wider). Using a black tube of gel, outline the eyes, make eyeballs, his unibrow, and that black line Brobee has through his mouth.


Happy, joyful, proud mama baker!! (By the way, I am also very happy and proud of my son. Because the day was about HIM, not just the cake. Right.)


p.s. It tasted delicious too. Serve it with some ice cream!
p.p.s. First image via the lovely Katy.