1 Big Bear Cake
2 Cakes with Templates
3 Cake cut and pieced together
4 Pieces glued together with frosting
5 The start of the skim coat of frosting
6 First coat on bear
7 The piping begins
8 The birthday girl takes a lick
9 Bear cake next to the real deal
10 Candles go in the tummy
11 Birthday girl shows Big Bear her cake
Since I decided not to throw a party for my daughter's second birthday, I thought I should at least make an effort on her cake. The love of her life for the past year has been a large brown teddy bear -- half her size and thus named Big Bear. Since her cake had a muse, I set out to do him justice using just two sheets of cake (baked in a 9 x 13 lasagna type pan) from our favorite test kitchen recipe. I roughed out a template using parchment paper and cut the cake accordingly. I then assembled the bear, trimming corners, building up a nose, feet and tummy. The pieces were "glued" together with frosting, then the whole bear was coated with a skim coat of frosting. Once coated, I piped the fur using a grass tip and applied some licorice candies for the eyes and a nose. Big bear, the cake, and his chocolate-on-chocolate combo, was a hit with adults and kids alike and certainly worth the effort.
