Angry Birds Cake Project
Angry Birds Cake Project – cake and cupcakes featuring Angry Birds characters. Price available upon request.
anger management
I got a text message from M._ asking if I can do an Angry Birds cake and cupcakes for the joint birthday celebration of her daughter who’s turning one and her son who’s turning seven. Now what the hail are Angry Birds? My nephew P._ told me he had been playing the game incessantly on his mom’s iPhone. Okay. So I googled “angry birds” to see how they looked like. After a brief Angry Birds 101 from P._, I realized that these birds are on a kamikaze mission!
Again, I turned to marzipan, my go-to medium when I want to create 3D decorations. My laptop was in front of me while I was molding the birds. My nephews saw the “creatures” I made and they were eager to pop some into their mouths. I was quick to quash their intentions—sorry!— but promised to make some for them as soon as I was done with this project.
Because everything on the cake must be edible, I thought hard about what to use to decorate the cake. The blocks were easy—I used chocolate covered wafer biscuits. The slingshot was a problem. But while I was walking in a mall in Makati, I passed by Auntie Anne’s pretzels. I did a double take and thought “there’s my slingshot!” Inspiration really comes in odd places.
Of course, the font for the birthday greeting must be the Angry Birds font. Must.
When I delivered the cake and cupcakes to the venue, the kids crowded around them and I swear I saw their eyes light up with wonder. I asked the birthday boy which is his favorite character and he said the King pig. Whew, ’twas a good thing I made that and put it in the cake! Special thanks to M._ of course for trusting me that I can do the birds and for sending me additional photos from their special celebration.
As soon as I got home, I got a phone call from L._ inquiring about Angry Birds cupcakes. Great, more of these birds! I thought the caller was present at M._’s party and saw the cupcakes there but she told me she wasn’t. So L._’s cupcakes became my second Angry Birds project. I frosted some of the cupcakes—they were banana by the way—with creme ivoire (white chocolate glaze) so the Black Bird will be seen against the white palette as opposed to a dark one if I use dark chocolate ganache.
Since then, I made two more similar cake projects. I think my molding skills are becoming better and better! The photo below is of A._ who celebrated her fifth birthday in school. Her mom J._ told me the children loved the cupcakes. She also brought the cake to school so her daughter can blow her birthday candle but the cake of course was headed back to their house. *wink* *wink*. Thanks, J._ for your trust as well and for the photos!
A friend of J._ also asked me if I can make her son’s cake and cupcakes but I was swamped that week. I had time though to make just the decorations so it became a DIY project for A._. I just hope everything turned out well. I also made some for my friend T._ who went home from the US to get married. He told me his young nieces and nephews weren’t fans of marzipan but liked the Atis Delight cupcakes very much that he also got from me. Hmm, I know almond flavor is something that you either hate or love. About the Atis cupcakes, well that is another story!
The cake below was for my beautiful niece G._. Her special request was that the cake should me mango-flavored so I used my Mango Overload recipe. Her mother J._ who is my cousin reported to me that the birthday girl loved the cake and was hesitant to cut it. Sweet! I was glad to hear though that the family was able to snap out of that trance and sampled the cake with gusto. Thanks again J._! It was sad that we weren’t able to see each another. Miss you much!
I know these birds are not going anywhere so I expect more inquiries and hopefully orders from Angry Birds enthusiasts.
* * *
of irate birds and evil pigs…*
Have you ever wondered why those pigs are green instead of the usual pink hue? According to Rovio, the game was developed at the height of the swine flu pandemic so they made the pigs sickly green. The game started with just a screenshot of an angry bird character without feet and wings, trudging around the ground and everyone involved loved the idea. The birds needed an enemy, thus the pigs were born.
There are countless tips available on how to annihilate the pigs so you can move on to the next level. I am not a player myself so I cannot say which tips are new. But here’s one secret from the creators themselves: “Everybody knows that the yellow bird cuts through wood and the blue one breaks glass blocks easily. But did you know that the boomerang bird is equally effective against both?!”
Rovio also gets a lot of fan mails and one staff is assigned just to answer the mails. Yes, that’s all he does! Rovio encourages fan mails and finds it rewarding to interact with fans. They even incorporated a neat idea from a five-year old boy via a game update. How cool is that? So you might want to start sending those suggestions, that is, if you are not busy obliterating those pigs into kingdom come!
*sources: PCWorld.com, Pocketgamer.co.uk
5 comments October 31st, 2011
