Heroes in a half-shell!

No matter how many episodes, movies, or even minutes of just one single episode a boy has seen... Which of them does not become obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at some stage in his lifetime??

Heck. Who in general hasn't chosen a favourite Ninja Turtle to imitate in the playground or <cough> at the workplace. Costumes come in adult sizes for a reason, you know. And if that's your thing, then good for you. Just be careful when boarding a train armed with pretend swords... You can never be too careful who might think you're not just dressed as a fictional character on their way to work for a fundraiser.

<ahem>

Last month, I had the pleasure of designing and making a Ninja Turtles themed cake.

I began my research, and designed a city/skyscraper landscape, similar to what I did with this Batman cake. My Google research seemed to steer me in the direction of a blue night sky, complete with  a full moon.

And though there's ample cakes that have the beloved turtles emerging from a sewer, I felt it most certainly necessary to add another one.

For the 'sewer', I used two mini cake boards and covered one in grey fondant, and the placed a grey fondant ring around the other. The birthday boy, who's name is Ralph, was turning 5, so I imprinted (with a cookie cutter) the number into the fondant, and filled in the rest of the 'lid' with, well, marks from the handle of a teaspoon.

I relied on a YouTube tutorial for the making of turtle heads - the shape mainly, as you need an indent for where the eyes and masks will be... because I didn't think that, all by myself, I could manage a round ball with a slight curve in it.

One by one, colour by colour, eye by eye, bandana by bandana, and mouth by mouth, these miniature Ninja Turtle heads were made and assembled.

I discovered quickly that the easiest way to add this green gang of sword-fighting brothers to the cake was to place them on top (totally unrealistic, by the way, emerging from a sewer on top of a city; but I like to think of it as a contemporary piece, where you really need to step back and appreciate the art form, rather than look too closely at the detail and how completely wrong it is).

With made-up-as-I-went-along turtle hands (or are they really feet?) squished under the heads, the turtles emerge from the mini cake-board sewer in the sky, and good ol' Donatello is the chivalrous brother who slides the sewer lid to the side to make room for the others.

I'm pretty sure in any episode and movie I've seen, they can't all fit out of the sewer at once, so just go along with it, okay?

Lastly, for the final touch on the cake - birthday wishes. Since the birthday boy's mother is a writer, Husband assured me that she would appreciate the word pun on the cake, turning Ralph into his favourite of the ninja turtles - Ralphael.

And here's the ah-mazing food display set up at the party! The birthday boy's dad made four fruit & veggie platters in true Ninja Turtle style!! With matching dips and everything. It was impressive :)

Happy birthday Ralph!!