David's 4th birthday (my nephew) was last weekend and I got to make his cake again this year. Since he had just gone to Sea World - we decided a shark cake was in order. It would have been Shamu except do you know how hard it is to make black frosting? It's hard - last time I tried it was when I made his Lightning McQueen cake... not really black and it tasted very bitter. So - let's do a shark instead. I added the fishy cupcakes and voila... birthday cake extravaganza!
I had seen the idea for this somewhere and then found it again on Parenting.com (go check it out - there are lots of other really cool kids cakes).
When I googled shark cake, I found this woman's site. She had the brilliant idea of making the shark cake out of red velvet so it looked bloody. Awesome! No red velvet on hand but that's ok - just put some red food coloring in a box of chocolate cake mix and, well, it looked kind of red.
That's what you'll need for the cake and cupcakes. There's frosting, graham cracker (shark fin), fruit roll up (shark mouth), marshmallows (shark teeth), Junior Mints (shark eyes), Goldfish crackers (shark bait) and extra bowls to tint the cake mix.
Crumb coat
Mouth and teeth... done.
Swirled frosting for the waves.
For the cupcakes I had some white cake mix on hand and thought of making the cake batter look like the ocean (ala rainbow cake technique) so I mixed up a few different colors of batter and then swirled them in each cup.
Turned out kind of cool huh?
They were pretty tasty too.
So here's my super-duper-how-to-transport-frosted-cupcakes tip... the trick is to elevate the cupcake just a little from the pan so you don't have to stick your fingers in the frosting to get it out. Throw some mini marshmallows in each well of your cupcake pan to form a single layer then place the cupcake in and voila!
Cupcake on the left doesn't have a bed of marshmallows. Cupcake on the right does! Easy cupcake transport without having to ruin the frosting when you're ready to take them out of the pan. Don't say I never gave you anything :)
slpteach2 - thanks for your comment! I used a regular loaf pan I'm sorry I don't know the measurements however you could use a pound cake and just cut it the same way. As for how to cut the cake into shape, under the second photo from the top there is a link to the Parenting.com site where I found the cake. There is a detailed description of how to cut the cake. I hope this helps and good luck with the party!!
Posted by: supersue | May 30, 2013 at 11:17 PM
Love the cake! Saw a similar one on another page that used just one pound cake. Would you mind letting me know what size cake pan you used? And how you cut them? Thanks so much, party is tomorrow!!!! :)
Posted by: slpteach2 | May 30, 2013 at 12:40 PM
Cari - I'm thrilled you found some inspiration on my little slice of crafty! The internet is an amazing place - so many creative awesome people out there :) I'd love to see your cake and admire it, please send a picture!
Posted by: supersue | January 23, 2012 at 07:46 PM
Wow Wow Wow!!! I have never made a fancy cake... nor have I really wanted to. However, I am inspired!!!!!!! My son is turning 5 yrs old next week and... I'm going to try this!!!!! I'm scared, but I'm going to try! =)
Thanks for the inspiration!!!!!!! (I think =)
Posted by: Cari Sherlock | January 05, 2012 at 10:30 PM
Ketutar - FANTASTIC tip!! Thanks so much I will definitely try it next time.
Posted by: supersue | August 21, 2010 at 08:00 PM
Next time try a chocolate frosting with some blue or black icing... Chocolate gives the icing dark tone to begin with, so you don't need to use as much coloring to get the icing black ;-)
P.S. I enjoy your blog very much - charm and whimsy, indeed :-D
Posted by: Ketutar | July 24, 2010 at 07:36 AM
I agree. You are awesome.
Posted by: Jules | April 06, 2010 at 01:42 AM
You are awesome. Cherry
Posted by: Fairview Falcon | April 05, 2010 at 09:46 AM