captain underpants cake

Twice a year I have the opportunity to make birthday cakes for my kids. Once in June and once in November, which is perfect because it gives me enough time to recover and forget what a giant pain in the butt making elaborate cakes can be. Don't interpret that as a complaint. I'm fully aware that all these shenanigans are self-inflicted, but I can't help myself. It took me a couple of days to embrace the theme my son had chosen, Captain Underpants, because to be honest, I didn't know much about the guy. But now we're intimately familiar, the Captain and I...

Yeah, the beginning stages for the Captain were rough and maybe NSFW. I built him out of modeling chocolate, which is made of candy melts, corn syrup, and gel coloring. It doesn't dry out, but heat is the enemy with modeling chocolate. So as long as you work in a cool environment, modeling chocolate is pretty ideal for projects that will take a long time to complete. I just tried to copy the picture as best I could -- it helps that he's made of pretty simple shapes.

Then the cake: it was an eggless chocolate cake (to accommodate my daughter's allergy) covered with buttercream frosting and modeling chocolate decorations.