I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about the Black Lives Matter movement. I haven't actually commented on it, though, because the way most people do it really isn't my style. I don't stand up and tell people what the right thing is to do and tell them what they're doing is wrong. I just see beauty in life and try to share it with others.
So, I debated if I wanted to make an Afro baby cake, which was popular a couple years ago. And I was looking at some photos of cakes other people had made when my three-year-old daughter came and looked at the photos with me. And she said, "Wow! She's pretty! Will you make that cake for me?" That decided it. I had to make an Afro baby cake.
Because I needed a great deal of height on this cake, I decided to use cake dummies. One six-inch and two four-inch cake dummies.
I started with my bottom tier. I frosted it with vegan American buttercream.
And covered it in white fondant.
The top tier was harder. The two cake dummies didn't really want to stick together and frosting them was very difficult because they didn't want to stay in place.
In the end, I had to place one finger on the top of the cake in order to stabilize it enough to frost it.
And I covered it in white fondant as well.
I chose an off-center stack because the main focus should be the baby. I want her in the center. So, I placed the bottom tier off center and the top tier closer to the center to create a flat surface to place the baby.
Then, I used my smoother to create angled lines on the side of the cake.
Also on the top tier.
And then in the opposite direction to make a diamond texture.
Then I cut out an oval out of white fondant.
I'm using a template today. This is the iconic image of the Afro baby. Often depicted in a mirror image, and is usually placed on a cake as an edible image, but I don't have an edible printer. So, I decided to make her out of fondant. I rolled out a piece of brown fondant and used the image as a template to cut out all the pieces I needed out of brown.
Then I did the same thing with pink and placed both onto the white oval I had prepared.
Finally, I cut out the hair from black fondant.
And I placed the entire image onto the side of the cake. I thinned down some black food coloring with clear alcohol and painted some details onto her face: eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, ears as well as shading on her legs, arm, hand and face.
Then I added just a tiny drop of white food coloring for the whites of her eyes and catch lights.
Then I made very tiny ruffles out of black fondant and placed them onto her hair with edible glue.
And made it big. That's half the point. She's the Afro baby.
Then I made the same kind of ruffles out of pink and placed them on her bum to be a tutu.
And I made her a golden crown.
And gave her a pearl necklace made out of sugar pearls.
I also added gold sugar pearls to where the diagonal lines meet on the side of the cake.
Finally, I extruded a lovely little design out of white fondant and placed it at the point where the two tiers meet and at the bottom of the cake.
I am in love with this cake.
Look at the beauty of this adorable little girl!
There's also something really elegant about the cake.
Royal even.
I hope everyone can see the beauty I do when I look at faces like this. The gorgeous richness of the brown skin, the glory of the curly black locks, the depth of the expressive black eyes. I see beauty everywhere.
And I hope everyone in the world does as well.
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