Kid's Birthday Duck Cake - Cake Redo!

This duck cake is a redo. I learned to make cakes in order to make my daughter's birthday cakes. My daughter's second birthday was then my second real decorated cake ever. It was also my first fondant covered cake and my first carved cake. And it turned out awful. Here it is:

 I knew it was a sad-looking cake at the time. But since it was for my 2-year-old who wouldn't really notice, we used it anyway.

But recently, my husband's cousin invited us to celebrate her daughter's third birthday with them. And she asked if we could bring a cake. Maybe with a duck on top?

Now's my chance to redeem myself, I realized. I immediately agreed. Time to redo the duck cake. She did request a buttercream cake, so this was a little different design. And I decided to make the duck out of rice krispies instead of cake.

So, I modeled the duck out of chocolate rice krispies the day before to let it set up. Then I made Swiss meringue buttercream and crumb coated the duck.

 Then I filled the chocolate cake with buttercream and crumb coated it with it as well.

 Then I took the rest of the buttercream and colored some of it blue and some of it green.

 The green buttercream I placed in a piping bag with a leaf tip.

 Then I frosted the cake with the blue buttercream and textured it with the tip of my small offset spatula.

 Then I piped some leaves onto the side of the cake to make it look like a pond surrounded by reeds.

 Then I smoothed the buttercream on the duck with my hands after the buttercream had set up. This only works with meringue buttercream.

 I covered the duck with yellow fondant.

 Then I made the bill with orange fondant, modeling it with a ball tool and the back of a knife blade. Then I placed a couple balls of black fondant for the eyes. I used my other modeling tools to texture the fondant a bit to look like wings and feathers in the tail.

 Then I picked up the whole duck with the knife slid underneath it and placed it on the cake. I pressed a bit into it to get it to settle since the set buttercream did not want to give. I dabbed a bit of white buttercream on the top to look a bit more like waves.

 I'm much happier with the way this cake turned out than I was with my daughter's second birthday cake.

 I love the cute little duck face.

 The buttercream looked gorgeous and I surprised myself on it since I'm not the world's best piper.

 Quack, quack!

To watch the whole process on our YouTube channel, click here: https://youtu.be/vD4SOywHL1E
Um das ganze Prozess auf YouTube anzuschauen, klickt hier: https://youtu.be/kVn1U6gPXrc