Hot Pink & Zebra Topsy Turvy Cake

This wild cake was for an adorable little girl who was turning 1. Her mom put together a beautiful party with zebra stripes and hot pink accents everywhere, and I was excited to build this cake to top off the event. No, it's not falling over...this is in fact my first "topsy turvy" cake. It was an adventure in cake carving! I was happy with the way it came out, eventually. I actually had some trouble and had to take the cake apart and re-carve the bottom layer. But I eventually got it right. Both layers were white cake with raspberry filling. Once I covered the cakes with white fondant and stacked them, I painted the entire cake with a pearlized luster dust. This made the fondant nice and sticky (and it looked really cool). So then it was easy to apply the zebra stripes - I cut them out of black fondant free hand with a pizza wheel and just pressed them onto the white fondant. Once they were in place, I also painted the stripes with the pearl dust. Then I made a ton of beads out of hot pink fondant, stuck them in a plastic bag, sprinkled in my pretty hot pink luster dust, and shook them like "Shake and Bake" chicken! This gave the beads a pretty shine. I placed all the beads at the base of each cake. Then I made the free form flowers out of hot pink fondant and silver dragees, gave them a coat of pink luster dust, and placed them in a cluster on the front of the cake. Since it was a first birthday, the birthday girl needed a "smash cake" to destroy and get all over herself. So I made a giant cupcake that could be lifted off the cake and served to the birthday girl. I added a pink fondant strip around the cupcake for a "wrapper" and topped it with a swirl of buttercream frosting. I also added a little "disco" silver edible glitter and a fondant "1" to the top. I was really happy with the results, and even happier when I heard that the cake made the trip to Vista in one piece! Phew! I love adding new techniques to the arsenal...