The Lala "Oopsy" Cake, Part 2:

Once in a while, I tackle a cake that tackles me.  Unfortunately, it happened to be my daughter's birthday cake.  To read the story behind this cake, you will need to read part 1.

I did a bit of research on how other cake decorators have made these Lalaloopsy dolls with their huge heads and tiny bodies, and thought I had a good grasp on what it would take to keep it all intact.  Unfortunately, I forgot that I am not good at structural physics and the cake inevitably falls over without the assistance of Mr. Man.

Here is how the cake progressed.  Get ready.

Day 1:  I made a beautiful loopsy head and mermaid tail out of rice krispy treats.  I refrigerated them for two days before wrapping them in fondant.  I textured the tail and set the pieces aside to harden.  I also baked a sheet cake and put it in the freezer until later.

Day 2:  My son and I worked after Little Miss went to bed, and completed the face and hair of the loopsy head.  I poked a hole in the bottom for a dowel to go through, wrapped the head up so she wouldn't see it, and put it in the cupboard.

Day 3:  The night before the birthday party, I placed the cake on a glass cutting board, my son iced it, and together we covered it in fondant and decorated everything with the sewing tool, seaweed and buttons.  We put a large-sized straw into the neck of the mermaid as a support and placed a wooden dowel down inside for the head to connect onto.  My son went to bed.

Later, I went to get the head out of the cupboard, and it had gone all squishy!  Melted!  

Mr. Man went to work finding a solution.  He came into the shop with a brand new wiffle ball.  I quickly covered it in gumpaste (it hardens faster) and shoved it full of royal icing and fastened it onto the wooden dowel.  We hoped for the best and went to bed.

Day 4: The day of the party, I went into the shop and found the head had fallen back, dragging the dowel, straw and the back of the mermaid with it.  There was a huge dent behind her on the cake where the head had landed.  

I realized the dowel needed to be inserted into the board so I had to lift the cake off of the glass and place it onto a foamcore board.  In lifting it, the cake cracked in several places.

I called the troops in.  Little Miss wanted to help.

I said, "sure."

"Ooh," She exclaimed, "somebody broke the whale!"

And I shrugged, and agreed.

She also found the original head we'd made, and exclaimed that it looked so much like a loopsy doll!  It wasn't until later, after covering the cracks with seaweed, and putting the hair on the head that her brother told her it was for her!  She was so surprised!

 (Three heads - can you tell which one is real? har, har)

Little Miss made the new loopsy face, her brother redid the work we had done the night before, and I went to work fixing the back, neck and cutting new dowels for the head.  Needless to say, we got it all done, and I kept the head off until we got to the party.

 Voila! The finished product, never to be seen on my facebook or cake blog.  Faded, crooked, broken and looking a little spooky, Little Miss was happy with her cake. 

And,

Ultimately,

 cake always looks like....

This!  

Yikes!  Her head at least stayed on until the end!!