How to make a Rudolph Birthday Cake.

My son wanted a Rudolph cake for his birthday, so I had to come up with something. I found some ideas on line, but they called for a round pan that I don't have so I had to improvise.

First I baked a large rectangular cake. I guess you can use a mix or use any recipe that will produce a cake that will not fall apart on you when cut and handled. I used this recipe and it was fabulous. Not low fat, but still a lot healthier then some of the other ones I tried :) It need no food coloring at all. I also used a lot less sugar than the recipe called for and it was still mighty sweet. I doubled the ingredients and had enough to have 2 layers with some strawberries and chocolate ganache in between :))

Here's how I cut my rectangle

First I used a pan lid to trace a circle for Rudolph's head. But I left one of the corners on for the nose. Then I cut two leaf shaped pieces for ears, I actually ended up shortening them a little, that was a bit too long. I stuck some popsicle sticks in the ears and then pushed the other end of them into the head - to have them stand secure. Then on to decorating.

The brown is that chocolate ganache that is suggested in the recipe of the whole wheat Birthday cake - SO yummy!!! And the white is your basic cream cheese frosting. The pupils are left over chocolate chips from the ganache and the nose is a large strawberry.

Almost forgot - the antennas are peanut butter cookies that I shaped into that Y-shape. And I had lots of antennas left over :)) Little tip - if you don't want antennas to get soggy, stick them in right before lighting the candles and always have extras just in case your first pair brakes. I left antennas in my Rudolph overnight and they were nice and mushy for the party - still eaten and very much enjoyed :) - especially the part that was inside the cake - MMMMM..! :))

I also stuck that tiny cake in front of Rudolph's nose for the candles, so that he helps blow them out so I don't have to sick the candles in his face.

I am no cake decorator, but that was fun and easy and even with my less then perfect icing job, I got lots of excited kids. They had so much fun picking which part of Rudolph they wanted on their plate! :)