. : {kitchen adventures} Owl Smash Cake Tutorial

Hoot!

It took me a while to put this up here, because I like to pretend I still have a chubby little baby who coos at me, rather than a destructive toddler who tears through the house at top speeds, jumps on the pets, and calls me by my first name.

Anyhow, I got the idea for this cake from this photo I saw on pinterest. My version was so easy to do, I thought I'd share it.

First, grab your bakeware and grease it up! Cans work awesome. This one was a 28 ounce can of tomatoes in it's previous life. You can use the can by itself, because your cake will naturally bake up into a head shape, and you'll only need one piece. I just preferred to have shoulders on my cake*. If you want shoulders too, a 1 cup glass bowl is the perfect size for Mr. Owl's head.

(* Also I'm lying. I didn't think ahead and assumed my can cake would bake flat.)


Bowl Cake and Can Cake (with top already cut flat). Trust me, it's tastier than it sounds.

You'll also need:

Cake batter. This one is carrot, but I hold no grudges to anyone who prefers chocolate or yellow cake. Red Velvet however, just march yourself on out of this blog right now.
~~Two~~ , make that 10 chocolate sandwich cookies, in case you mess up, or need to eat one or four.
Frosting, in 2 colors, and some kind of piping tool. I used the "spray can" frosting that already comes with tools, like this one.
Toothpicks or drink stirrers.
A hungry birthday kid.

After baking, use a knife to loosen the can cake and plop it down on a paper plate. Cut two small triangles at the top where the wings and chest will separate. Cut them all the way down the body, widening a little bit as you get toward the bottom.


It doesn't have to be perfect since you're frosting it.

Now frost the chest by making little dots with a star tip on a frosting pipe. Make the dots bigger toward the top, so he can have a puffy bird breast.


Frosted body.

Finish the back side, but leave the wings naked for now. I got lazy with the back of my bird and just frosted lines. Grab your second frosting color and frost the wings the same way you did the chest.

Now, put some frosting on top where you'll stick his head on.

Stick on your second cake.

Frost the face and head, making two points on top like cat ears.

Halve two cookies and cut one top in half like this. It might take a few tries.

Lay the cookies facedown. (I swear my countertop is clean.) Use a toothpick, kabob, or drink stirrer to poke a small hole in the middle of each. Go slowly, or they'll break and you'll just have to eat them.

Put a toothpick or drink stirrer through the holes you just made to hold the eyes on the owl. But for goodness sake, pull the sharp objects out before you give it to a hungry baby to smash.