Fancy Baby Rattle Cake

Ok, I gotta brag a little bit. I had a great MacGyver moment with this cake! I received a copy of the baby shower invitation and there was this graphic of a rattle with a beautiful blue and brown baroque pattern. I was going to just freehand the pattern with a piping bag of frosting, but between the cake and the matching cookie favors, that was a lot of "wingin' it". So I went shopping (the cure for my creative blocks!). I found rubber stamps that were close, and I thought that would give me a good impression if I pressed it into the fondant. But then I found these white puffy stickers that I loved. So I thought I'd make my own rubber stamp. I found a little acrylic tray at Mom's house (the original Martha MacGyver) and stuck the stickers on the bottom in a symmetrical pattern. I rolled out the Tiffany blue fondant, then pressed my homemade "stamp" into the fondant to create an imprinted pattern (see bottom photos). The patterned fondant would be pretty on its own, but it was even more spectacular filled in with chocolate frosting. So for the cake, I layered chocolate chocolate chip cake and chocolate custard ("death by chocolate" cake!) and covered the whole cake with a layer of vanilla frosting. Then I covered the frosting with a layer of white fondant. I decided I needed something "3D" for the top, so I actually baked a cupcake-sized cake in a pyrex bowl and added it to the top to be the rattle. I added my patterned blue fondant on the rattle and in a wide strip around the side of the cake. Then I finished my fondant details with a chocolate brown fondant bow and smaller brown stripes around the sides. The silver fondant details on top got their sparkle with a coating of silver luster dust. Lastly, I piped the bead borders and the writing to finish the design. I even added a small "#3" plaque to represent the family's 3rd bouncing boy! (I can't imagine...my one little boy is a handful!) I think the design was simple and elegant, if I do say so myself. And now I have a cool new tool for imprinting fondant! Take that, Cake Boss!