Armadillo Cake

I'm not sure how I feel about starting out 2011 with a cake like this! It's a face only a mother could love. Even back when I first saw Steel Magnolias, I didn't get it. But I have to admit that when it was all done, even I thought he was cute.

I created the body out of red velvet cake (of course!) by stacking round layer cakes. I carved the sides a bit to elongate the body. Then I added a large cupcake to the front end and a king-size cupcake to the front of that. Then I carved away a bit from the head and frosted everything with a thin crumb coat of cream cheese icing. When I got to this point (what I call the "panic point" of the cake), I really had my doubts. [I meant to take a picture before the fondant armor, but trust me when I say that I wasn't sure that I could make this cake into anything.] But I went ahead and rolled out my gray fondant, rolled a texture mat over it, and cut strips of "armor" which I laid on top of a generous top coat of cream cheese icing. Starting at his tail end, I layered the fondant strips up to the neck, then I used a large piece of fondant to cover his whole head, wrapping it under the chin and cutting off the excess. I rolled a thin fondant tail and covered it with small strips in a similar fashion, then tucked the tail into the back end. I also hand-molded his little hands and feet and tucked them in. I added fondant ears and a pink nose, and eyes which I colored with edible markers (adds shiny color). The final touch was a dry dusting of luster dusts in charcoal and brown to bring him to life. Now my husband wants one to bring to work! What a crazy conversation piece.