Birthday Celebration Part II: Little World

Little World is a relatively new addition to Alex’s preschool. Placed amidst tree stumps and bark, this magical play space comes to life with the help of several imaginative children. The kids there love to sort through the tiny fragments of beach glass, rocks and pine cones that were left there by tiny fairies – or at least that’s how the story goes.

When I first started thinking about a theme for Alex’s birthday cake I was at a loss.  I try never to incorporate popular cartoons or toys into the celebration because to me, that’s celebration of the product, rather than the child {I made a cartoon themed cake once -- a Scooby Doo Mystery Machine cake for Sammy’s fifth birthday. But it was Scooby Doo, can you blame me?}. Instead, I make cakes that are representational of my children’s interests. Little World seemed like as good a theme as any.

{Dark Chocolate Frosting recipe here}

My friend Lori M. sent me a tutorial on how to make little cake houses and I was off and running.

This recipe called for two round cake pans but instead I used two loaf pans and it turned out great. My only problem was that I hadn't thought about how I was going to cut the cake. With zero knowhow, I hacked away at the cake houses cutting mishapen fragments to serve to guests. Instead of nice neat squares, kids got trapezoids, triangles and other configurations. I don't think the kids cared at all. They were more concerned about getting a piece, any piece so long as it included a mushroom and jelly beans.

{Mushrooms - large marshmallows with molded Starbust candy on top. Place the Starbust in the microwave for a few seconds until it's soft enought to shape}

One of the little girls arrived at the party hesitant about the thought of being dropped off at an unfamiliar local, but once I showed her the cake, she held her hand up to her mouth and said with a smile, "It's Little World." From that moment, she was fine. For me, that was icing on the cake.