My husband and I have waiting a long time to get to welcome our first child into the world. So, when I finally approached 34 weeks, my in laws decided to throw me a shower. I volunteered to make the cake (yes, I know, I made my OWN shower cake) because it was so important to me to be able to make a cake for my baby boy! I may not have this kind of time once he arrives, right?

The owl was four 8" cakes, hand carved into an oval (you could also use oval pans). I drove a dowel through the center to help it stay stable through the carving and transport. He was then iced in buttercream. The I rolled the ears out of fondant and stuck them in the head of buttercream with toothpicks. Next, I rolled satin ice fondant over the whole body. Making the ears prior, out of fondant, helped the ears hold shape with the weight of the rolled fondant. I then made the eyes, beak, feet, in proportion to each other out of fondant. The wings, hair and pocket in front were also fondant. I used a wood grain texture piece to give the fondant some depth. I also used a stitching tool around all the seams to help detail the owl to look more like a stuffed animal. The board was all strips of fondant.

Overall, this whole project took about 8 hours – from bake to finish. It was so much fun and even more fun to eat!