Cheese CAKE

My sister-in-law is a cheese-lover (as are we), so for her birthday dinner a couple weeks ago I made her a special cake and dabbled in some new (to me) decorating methods. I took my inspiration from these little cheeses, which I have always loved. They were a special treat growing up. We brought a little cheese for everyone at her party. Kind of like a party favor : )

I toyed with several different plans on how I wanted to make the cake. But eventually I ended up with this:

Once I decided that I wanted to make her cake look like a giant cheese wheel, I started thinking it would be fun to make the plate look like a cheese plate. I didn't have anything large enough to fit a cake, but then I remembered the faux wood wrapping paper I used in the play coffee shop. I covered a plastic tray with the paper, taping it to the back and "laminating" the top with packing tape. 

Then I baked a yellow cake, cut out one slice and frosted it with cream cheese frosting. The next step was my first attempt at using fondant. I rolled out a package of white and laid it over the cake, carefully cutting a slit where the slice had been taken out and folding the edges to the inside. 

 Next I wanted to make it look like there was a red rind or wax on the cheese. I covered the "cheese plate" with foil (to keep it clean) and cut a piece of paper to cover the sliced-out piece.

I used some red Wilton color mist to spray the whole outside of the cake. I really like these color sprays. I used the green when I made Thing One's green ham cake. One thing to note is that the color dries much darker than it originally looks when you spray it on. I was worried that this cake was going to look pink, but when it dried it really was a nice red. 

See, nice red rind, nice white cheese inside.

I covered the slice I removed with the remaining fondant, and again used a paper to cover the top, spraying red around the sides. Then I mixed a little cocoa powder into a ball of the fondant and made a mouse. Just for fun. : )

For this piece I did use one of our wood cheese plates, so the wheel and the slice matched.

There you have it, birthday cheese! I sure love a birthday them, especially for grown-ups because I think it's a little more unexpected.

Hope you are having a great weekend!
Thanks for reading
- Haley