When I saw
this video on you-tube awhile back I just knew I had to make it. I figured it would be the perfect challenge for me since I have not worked to much with fondant characters. When I first watched the video I thought all the pieces were made from cake. That looked rather tricky. Then I was studying it real closely when I noticed they were chocolate covered wafers. I knew I could do that. Then I found his instructions
here. I did things a little bit differently so I will explain my version.
I spent one day, maybe an hour, making and coloring fondant for the birds and pigs. If you have a kitchen aid Fondant is actually very easy to make. Store bought is softer and easier to work with but it always has a chemically smell and the taste is not the best.
My Recipe
Ingredients:
16 ounces white mini-marshmallows(use a good quality brand)
2 to 5 tablespoons water
2 pounds icing sugar
1/2 (Or so) cup Crisco shortening
Melt the marshmallows in the microwave for 30 seconds stir. Keep doing this until melted. The last time I made it I think it was about 90 seconds total. Grease liberally with shortening Then I stick the sugar, 2 TBS water, and melted marshmallows into my kitchen aid and let it mix for 5 minutes or so. If you notice it is sticking to much to the bowl add about a TBS of shortening. If it is to sticky add more sugar, if it is to dry add more water. When adding water be careful to add very small amounts at a time as a little will go a long way.
You want it to be a nice playdoh consistence. It should not break apart to easily when you pull it and it should not feel sticky. Roll the fondant into a ball and grease it with crisco. Wrap in plastic wrap then put it into an airtight container. You should wait 24 hour or so before using.
I made all of my fondant on a Friday. At this time I also colored the fondant. I made red, yellow, green, and blue. I had left over black I had bought for the superhero cake I had made. Black is so hard to get the right color I was ok using store bought. I used Satin Ice if you are wondering.
Then on Monday I made the birds and pigs bodies. I let them sit overnight. I had made a practice bird a few days earlier and found that the bodies would squish when I tried to add on the details. And squishy birds pre-flinging isn't really what I was going for.
Monday we also made the cake board. I say we because it required power tools and as of yet this is not one of my skills. Some day I will tackle that one and I will make amazing things like cupcake towers and cake pop stands. The board was one piece of fake wood flooring. You can get a sample from places that sell flooring for super cheap if not free. My Father-in-law happened to have one I could use.
Ryan made two holes using a super cool tool. He then shoved the pre-cut dowels in. I don't really know how big they were. I want to say half a foot. My husband is so awesome. I was just going to use one of Jared's slingshots but it was going to be way to powerful. So he made this one out of felt, iron-on backing and two hair rubber bands.
On one piece of felt he folded it in the middle to create a pull-type thing (my technical terms amaze even me) It had the iron on backing already on it so it would stick to itself when he ironed it. Then he stuck it to another piece using the stitch witchery (that's really what it is called) He then cut small slits in the sides and knotted the rubber bands on. It worked so perfectly.
Monday I also covered the board in green frosting. In hind sight I would have done this right before I put on the cake but it worked good enough. Any frosting recipe would work for this. I used a basic vegan butter cream cause I was out of shortening. I think this is my new go to recipe. I then tinted it green using Duff Goldman's food coloring. I love it the best and I can buy it at Micheal's. It is this
stuff. You can use less food coloring and still get the desired color.
Vegan Butter Cream Frosting
Ingredients:
- 1 cup vegan butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
Directions
:
Mix butter, salt, almond milk, vanilla extract, and half of the powdered sugar with a mixer for 5-10 minutes.
Add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat until mixed through.
Add additional almond milk for desired consistency. I just slathered it all over the board. Then with my spatula I went over with an up and down motion lifting the frosting up. So much quicker then the original plan to frost it on using the hair/grass tip.
Tuesday morning I made a spice box cake because that is what Jared asked for. I had intended on frosting it with chocolate frosting but when it came out such a perfect dirt color I left it. Granted it was dry this way but the boys at the party were not interested in eating the actual cake part of the cake. If my son liked cake I would have made cupcakes for the party guests to eat instead of knocked down cake pieces.
Here are the awesome store bought finds that made this cake so easy to make. I didn't use many of the mint cookies because they ended up being an odd shape. The boys did devour the cookies. What I didn't use for the cake I had on a plate for them to enjoy. They were even eating the ones that had become angry birds casualties.
I really had no structure planned in my mind when I put this together. I have played the game a few times and every level is so different I don't really think it matters to much. As I built it I did keep in mind that I needed places to place the pigs.
The angry birds ended up being easier then I thought. I would take one style at a time. I would design one and use it as my model. Then I would make each piece in sets. I made all the eyes first since that was the easiest. I used a decorating tip with a medium size circle I think it was a #10. But really just look around your house and see what you could use to get the size you want. a pencil could be traced or a pen cap. I then flattened it with my finger to get the size I wanted.
To attach the parts to the birds I used a paint brush and water. A little water goes a very long way. If you use to much it will smear the colors and cause them to bleed. I stuck my paint brush into the water then shook all the water off leaving a very small amount on the brush. That seemed to work best.
Then I would make the beaks. For this I did a typical play-doh move. I made snakes. As a child that was the only thing I was good at. Play-doh was not my thing. I could never come up with anything worth the time and effort to make that didn't end up looking like a sad sad blob. I guess I have come a long way. I digress. Snakes oh wait beaks. I would roll them out long then cut them the shape I wanted. Fold them over so that the top was longer then the bottom. Most of them were to thick at this point so I just cut off the excess to get it nice and thin.
The eyebrows were super easy as well. I rolled out the fondant into a squarish shape. With a sharp knife I cut them into the different rectangle sizes.
For the feathers on top of the red and blue birds I used a similar snake technique that I used for the beaks. But this time I left them thick. I cut them to shape and folded them in the center. If one piece was to long I would break it off with my finger and then roll the end with my finger tip to make it look nice.
Here they are without the eyes drawn on yet. The white parts of the eyes need a couple hours to dry before you can draw on the black dots. My Brother-in-law said they look like zombie birds.
I used a black edible marker. I went to buy it Tuesday afternoon from the local cake decorating store called RoZ's. They only sold them in a pack of 8 or so and they were a little pricy. When I showed her what I was using them for she gave me her old pens. She is really awesome like that. Much better right?
I was a little nervous to do the pigs for some reason. Then when I did them I realized they were easier then the birds. Less detail. I can't really give much tips for the ears. I just form a triangle like shape then use a spaghetti noodle to help mold the center. For the snouts I just molded the shapes with my fingers. Then I used a noodle to poke into the snouts for the nose holes. My girls made the crown and the birthday hat.
I cleaned off my island and then slathered it with frosting, but only the length and width of my board. The frosting worked so good as my glue. It stuck to the table and did not move when Jared was slinging the birds across the room.
I seriously enjoyed the whole process of making this cake. I think that is because I have never done anything like this. My vision for this cake was exactly what I wanted and that is huge for me. Usually I have an amazing picture in my head and it doesn't end up the awesomeness I desired. But with every step of this cake I was giddy because it truly was exactly what I wanted.
Sarah took this picture of me then laughed when she saw it. She says I look like I am really concentrating.
The finished product.
I think I put in about 5 hours worth of work into this cake. Jared teased me that this cake was not really for him but for me. I just smiled cause my son sure knows me well.
With that said He loved it and I knew he would! Look at his face. It was so fun to watch him demolish this cake. He was really into it and Jared said it was easier then he thought it would be. Which was awesome because that means it worked well!
After he had sufficiently demolished the cake he let his friends have a go. It was a big hit. literally. There were angry birds all over the floor.
