clothesline baby shower cake, part deux

Yesterday, I had a fun assignment: another baby shower cake! The hostess attended my sister's baby shower, and she wanted the same kind of decorations for this cake. So I set about cutting out cute little fondant dresses and overalls in pink, purple, and turquoise... but lo and behold, the number of guests jumped from an estimated 40 to nearly 60! Oops - time for more cake. Instead of the 12" cake we had planned, we switched to a 14" round cake, which was just the right amount to feed everyone. The mom-to-be requested vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, but I couldn't help myself: I just had to tint the frosting with just a hint of pink. (It's a girl!)

It came out pretty sweet:

I took pictures from all angles to show all the cute little fondant clothes. It's fun to try to create different patterns and styles from just a few colors and basic shapes. First, I made all the shapes a day or two in advance to let them dry out a bit. It makes them easier to work with, but you do have to be careful so they don't crack.


If you press the pieces gently onto the cake when the frosting is not totally chilled, it acts as glue. Sometimes, you need just a little extra dab of frosting on the back, but not too much, or the fondant will slither downward.

I didn't want it to be exactly like my sister's cake, so I just made a few cute bugs and butterflies for the top.

For the vanilla cake, I used the same recipe as the Mini Cooper cake. There were three, 14" layers, and each required a double batch of cake batter. I have a heavy duty Kitchen Aid, and this model has a larger bowl than some others, and it was big enough to hold a double batch of batter all at once, which saved me a bunch of time. However, a double batch may not fit in all mixers!

The frosting was my go-to vanilla buttercream. For the record, I prefer Pettinice fondant, which luckily, they sell fairly inexpensively at Surfas.

Print vanilla cake recipe.

Print vanilla buttercream recipe.