Beach theme & Cricket theme Cakes for an Event

Cricket fever is on -- while tension, excitement and nail-biting matches rule the air! With the ongoing Cricket World Cup, the talk of Cricket dominates every table talk.

Recently a friend ordered this cricket themed cake for her husband's birthday. I couldn't have done this at a better time.

It is a Chocolate Cake with chocolate icing in between the layers and frosted with vanilla buttercream colored a pale green to depict the grassy field. I have made a Cricket themed before, but I've added a few more details to this one.

All cricket gear (except wickets) is completely edible and hand-made with a mixture of Fondant and Gumpaste. Fondant is rollable sugar icing, which can be easily molded and can be used to cover cakes to achieve a smooth neat finish.

I am sending this Cricket themed Cake over to Priya's Crazy For Cakes Event. Thanks Priya, for letting me know about your event.

  

I am also sending this Beach themed Cake to the same event. With summer just around the corner, I figured it would be apt to send in something related to the season as well.

This is a chocolate cake too, layered with chocolate icing. The icing on top is Vanilla butter cream colored blue. All beach items are hand-made using Fondant.

Everything is completely edible. Recipes used for the cakes are given below:

Chocolate Cake & Chocolate icing - click for recipes

Wilton's Vanilla Butter cream:
You will need:

1 cup White Vegetable shortening
1 tbsp Meringue powder
4 tbsp Water
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Cream the shortening, vanilla flavoring and water until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and meringue powder and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and combined. Color as required.

You can use 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter, the consistency will be different and adjust the amount of water accordingly. It may not need 4 tbsp.