Cactus Cake for Cinco De Mayo

I don't have any pictures as I was making this but I will share the recipe I used. It was a red velvet cake inside with butter cream frosting. The green is fondant. This was a very big cake. It was about 24" tall.

I started by making three 9x13" cakes. After they were cooled I started to freehand cut out and piece together what I thought looked like a cactus. I then frosted it and added on another layer. I used a lot of frosting to glue it all together. I then smoothed the frosting out as best as I could. 

The night before I made two batches of fondant and colored it with green gel coloring. I then rolled out my fondant. This was the most difficult part because the cake was so large. I have never had to work with this big of an area with fondant. My son actually had to help put the fondant on this one. After the fondant was on I took a small round ball tool and made the lines in running down the cactus.

Next I took sunburst candies and rolled them out and cut them in the shape of flowers. I use the candies when I need different colors and I only need a small amount. The stickers are toothpicks broken in half and stuck all over. I would like to lie and say that I made the lizard but it is a small plastic one that I purchased.:)

The Red Velvet Cake recipe I love can be found HERE 

 

Classic Buttercream icing-yield 6 cups

*2 cups butter or solid white veatable shortening
* 2 teaspoons vanilla (use clear vanilla to get a pure white icing)
*4 tablespoons milk or water
*2 pounds pure cane confecioner suger (thats around 8 cups)
*2 tablespoons meringue powder (this is sold at ac more or michles craft stores, and other specialty baking stores)

Directions- On medium speed, cream shortening, vanilla, and water/milk. Add half of dry ingredients, mix a little, add other half. This will create a stiff icing. If it is too stiff, add another tablespoon or two of water/milk.