This super-easy octopus cake was a huge hit at my son’s 1st Birthday party. My son loves watching the fish in the fish tank so I chose an under-the-sea theme.
I purchased the cake pan from Williams Sonoma but decided to simplify the design on the package a bit. I used regular cake mix baked according to package instructions. I frosted the entire cake with a layer of store-bought vanilla frosting (this gave the fondant and “sand” something to stick to).
To decorate, I used a small package of pre-made rolled fondant tinted blue for the octopus body. Details (the eyes and starfish) were made with gum paste. Royal icing was used to make the little suction cups. Finally, for the sand I used crushed graham crackers. A small paintbrush came in really handy to brush off any stray cracker crumbs on the octopus.
This was my first “real” cake and was really happy with how it turned out.
I bet your son loved your Octopus cake! It is lovely. It’s a simple design with not too much extra (and unnecessary) decoration which I think would have spoiled it. It’s also very well executed. If you want to see one of my cakes, it is in the music section (guitar cakes) and is number 117.
I bought the cake pan after seeing your cake. Can you tell me exactly how you “simplified” things? Did you cut areas of the cake off? Also, how did the graham taste on the cake, the instructions say use sugar. I like your idea better for kids if it tasted alright.
Thank you!