Go, Sharks!

WE'RE #1! Lately the hubs and I have been going to the AFL games here in Jacksonville. And right now, we're the best in the league! Since he's been getting into the games so much, I thought it would be a good idea to make a cake with a Sharks theme. If you know my husband, then you know he is an avid hat/cap wearer. And since I have the Confetti Cakes Cookbook, I already had the directions on hand for how to make a hat cake.

I started on Sunday to make the brim and let it dry but I had a little trouble with my fondant. After 3 days it was still not dry, so I had to prop it up and (thankfully) it stayed up the whole night. The rest of the fondant (to cover the cake) I microwaved for half the time, and it still came out too soft. After checking Cake Central, I was reassured it was not only me having that problem. But in the end, it covered rather well, and smoothed out awesomely! Check it out for yourself...



Now, there are some concave-y spots, but that was intentional to make it look like a real hat. The cake was chocolate, filled with hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles (or if you're from up north, jimmies), then covered with ganache and finally Duff's black fondant. The story behind the filling goes something like this: My husband and I met at Twistee Treat (an ice cream parlor) where I was working and he would always come and order the same thing, chocolate ice cream with hot fudge and chocolate sprinkles. I already know the hubs likes chocolate cake best. But as I was concocting the idea for a filling, this just popped into my head. And it tasted rather delicious, if I might add!

My husband's real Sharks hat has "Jacksonville SHARKS" written/sewed on it, but I opted for just the actual shark logo since I was doing this by hand. It came out okay, but boy do I wish I had the Cricut Cake when I make stuff like this!




Then I made some finishing touches with the lines, rivets and the button on top. I also made an AFL board (seen in the 1st pic) which took longer than expected after cutting out the lines and all those numbers! But it turned out great and looked awesome with the cake!

No one believed it was cake at first, but as soon as we cut into that bad boy, and the chocolate scent hit the air, we had ourselves some believers!



Happy Birthday, Honey! Hope it was as special as you are!