Recipe: Rock Climbing Birthday Cake

This pass weekend we had a mini BBQ for, Tony, a very good friend of mines. It was an intimate BBQ with some of our closest friends celebrating his big 2-4. I've been friends with this guy for almost ten years - crazy how fast time flies! It was a potluck so the boyfriend and I made vegetarian spring rolls (courtesy of his mom's secret recipe) which were uber delish! Since no one was bringing dessert and I had the urge to bake something special I decided to bake a cake just for him. I always try to bake a cake catered to the person so it's special to them in that sense and not just some boring round cake with candles. I raked my brains to think of what he was into and rock climbing came to mind. Now, how to "design" the cake. I googled "rock climbing cake" and to my surprise there were so many previously made cakes with the same idea. After browsing through a bunch of other people's cakes I had a vision...With that vision in mind I set out and baked my cake the day before the BBQ...

I baked four chocolate cakes using Dr. Oetker's Devil's Chocolate cake mix. 

Tip: Use some PAM spray and spray it all over the inside of the pan before pouring in the mix to bake. It makes it really easy for the cake to come out of the pan after baking =) Guaranteed non-stick!

While I left the cakes to cool on a cooling rack, with the help with one of my close girlfriends, J, we prepped the other ingredients. I wanted to have a strawberry-whip cream filling instead of icing so we washed and cut up the strawberries. We also got started on the fondant. Using pre-made white fondant from Bulk Barn (best place for baking needs =D) I added some black food colouring to create a marbled grey rock-like base for the cake.

Using other food colouring, we made bit of other coloured fondant for the "holds" on the rock climbing wall and of course to make a miniature "Tony." 

After the cake cooled, we leveled it out with a cake leveler and started layering it up. Doesn't it look so yummy?

Next up, it was decorating time with all the fondant =) After about three hours, the cake was complete! 

Come day of the BBQ, the birthday boy was uber happy which made it all worth it even more! Cheers to another year wiser and all the best to you Tony! Much love always and thanks for everything that you are - awesome! 

As always, Read. Comment. Share. Follow. <3

Karennn
xoxo