Teddy Bear cake

by Astrid B
(Canberra, Australia)

I made this teddy bear cake for my baby shower last year. I managed to take a photo just as people were starting to eat it (hence it looks like a leg is about to come off!)
To make this cake, I bought two plain round sponge cakes from the supermarket, and baked 7 cupcakes. Following instructions I found on a website, I placed the two round cakes side by side to form the bear's head and body. I sliced off an edge from 6 of the cupcakes, and placed them against the round cakes in position of the 4 paws and 2 ears. I cut off the top of the 7th cupcake to make a flat top, turned it upside down and placed it in the middle of the head cake, for the bear's snout (I used some icing to "glue" it to the round cake). I made a yellow butter icing, and iced the entire cake. I then placed shredded coconut into 2 zip locked bags, one with a couple of drops of yellow food dye, and the other with a drop of pink food dye (be cautious with the food dye, you don't need much!). I shook these until the shredded coconut was completely dyed. I then placed the pink shredded coconut in a circle on the body to form the belly and a small pink circle on the paws and ears. I covered the rest of the bear in the yellow shredded coconut. I used jelly fruit jubes for the paw pads, the eyes and nose, and chocolate sprinkles for the mouth.
This was my first attempt ever at creating and decorating a character cake, and I found it was pretty easy and fun to do.