Gabe's 7th.. Basketball Birthday!

My nephew Gabe turned 7!!! He made it very clear when i was making Isabelle's cake that he wanted a BASKETBALL cake. He even described to me what a basketball looked like. Then when his mother confirmed that this is still what he wanted he goes "yes, you know like a round orange cake with black lines on it like a basketball??" Oh goodness Gabe we sure love ya!!

I kept going back and fourth on the idea for this cake. I could not decide if i wanted to cover the ball with fondant or just ice it with buttercream. I ended up just doing buttercream for the fact alone that i did not want to make fondant. I bought black fondant to save my counters because black is a pain to make! The cheaper Wilton brand fondant is hard to work it and tastes AWFUL so i only used a small amount that i had left over from Nate's cake. Other than Nate pestering me when dinner was going to be made it turned out rather well and i am starting to realize its ok to make a cake in one afternoon and not three.

Sadly with every cake there is trial and error. i had never made a ball shaped cake before and the bumpy drive through Pleasant Grove and Saratoga Springs didn't go over well..... The ball started to slide off of itself and created a not so perfect ball for when we arrived. I tried to save it when we got there but there wasn't much i could do at that point, what was done was done. I now know for the future that a dowel or two may be needed inside the rounds to keep them together. AND…. buttercream might not have been the better choice. Lessons learned Gabe still enjoyed his birthday cake and it tasted delicious!