Coolest Hummingbird Cake 3
by Janet
Homemade Hummingbird Cake
I wanted to make something special for my Mom's 74th birthday party with the family. Mom loves her hummingbirds at her riverfront home. There are hundreds of them that swarm her porch! I started out by sketching out the size hummingbird that I wanted looking off of a coloring book page I found on the internet. I went to hummingbird sites to get an idea for all the coloring. I covered a 22x24 board with freezer paper and traced the outline of the bird on the paper so that I could position the cake in the correct spot, so that it wouldn't have to be repositioned once it was on there.
I baked 3 9x13 yellow cakes and froze them so they would carve easily. Once frozen, I laid the first cake over all of the sketch that it would cover. I took the original pattern and laid it up on top of the cake and cut around it. I did the same with cake #2 and #3 until the entire bird was cut out. I iced the whole cake once with white buttercream icing and let it dry. I then smooth iced the breast of the cake with more white icing using a knife that I repeatedly dipped in really hot water. I used a really dark green icing on the head, using the hot knife also. I then used a small rose petal tip for the red on the upper breast. I used a larger rose petal tip for the feathering on the underwings and tail area. I then took a lighter green and feathered in the outer wing and back.
I wasn't happy with the colors. It was kind of blah...I then added some blue gel with a brush around the breast area and that really made the colors pop! I added a black fondant beak and eye that I made out of marshmallow fondant earlier. The red flower is also marshmallow fondant. I was shooting for a hibiscus flower, but didn't quite achieve that, but it was ok. Mom LOVED the cake and so did everyone else.
