It’s summertime! Time for swimming pools, the beach, flip flops and frozen drinks…..
What better way to celebrate a birthday than with a beach ball blow out cake? This is one of my most popular designs, and I get tons of requests for info on how I did the ball, so here is the scoop:
The ball is 8 inches of pure unadulterated……… Styrofoam. Bet you thought I was gunna say cake, huh? Do I look nuts?….. No seriously, you could do it in cake just the same way, but we did not need that much cake.
Figuring out how to get the beach ball pattern on there was challenging. My first few attempts were shall we say, less than stellar. Then it hit me. The stroke of genius. The Divine intervention. The best idea I have ever had in my entire life!!
I drove my little self right over to Walgreen’s (making one pit stop at the gas station for a fountain Diet Coke because they have the best syrup to carbonation ratio of course.) And I picked up an inflatable beach ball. I cut out one segment of the ball and scanned it in two pieces with my scanner. I then cropped the two halves together in my editing program, and voila! I had one perfect jpeg image of a beach ball segment, that I could then resize to any size I needed to fit any size ball I needed.
I printed it out the size that I needed, and cut it out to make a template. I love templates. I use them for everything. I am not sure which I love more: templates, Diet Coke, or cornstarch. They all play such a huge roll in my life. (I think cornstarch is winning; I adore that stuff.) Then I used that template to cut out the sections of colored fondant, and applied them to the piping gel covered ball. White circles on the opposite ends of the ball were applied for authenticity.
The curlies are made by wrapping strips of fondant around a dowel rod until they are firm enough to hold their shape. Then slide them off, shape as desired, and let dry fully. I demonstrate this in the Topsy Turvy DVD.
The life preservers are simply made from cutting white fondant discs and applying red stripes, then wrapping a clay gun string around as the rope. I demonstrate this in the Boxes and Bows DVD .
Absolutely amazing!!!
Sharon you are such an inspiration, thanks for sharing your talent with us all!
lol Adele,, you are nuts and I love you.
Totally Awesome cakes , They look so yummy, I am a beginner you can see my cakes here http://bowdens-world.blogspot.com/ i have only made 6 so far but eventaully want to be come a professional just like you thank you for sharing
Holy Moly Sharon! That is one awesome cake!! Where do you get these ideas from, it totally amazes me! Wow, we must get into your mind, I am sure there is an endless idea machine, hehe!! Wow!
Another amazing cake!
I can totally relate to your diet coke needs. I am the same way but with diet pepsi. I only drink it out of the fountain and I find that the mexican restaurants in OC have the best soda to syrup ratio, nothing else comes close. It is a must when working on cakes 🙂
Who would have thought that that was just a styrofoam ball! I'll have to try that for our next beach theme party!
OKAY! I've had this cake saved as a fav for a long time on CC. I wouldn't dare attempt it b/c of the difficulty level. Thanks so much for sharing your secret! Now I just have to get someone to request a beach ball cake:)
You never cease to amaze me. <3 <3 <3
Sharon,
This is just the epitome of perfection….as always, of course.
I love the design, the beach ball and the fishies….
This is so adorable!
Sharon,
It's perfect. I love those moments of divine inspiration. You are so funny. Look forward to learning more from you.
Nancy
This cake is fabulous! Love the ball too!
You are soooooo freakin' awesome!!!!!! I have struggled more than once with covering a beach ball. Your idea was sheer genius! Thanks so much for sharing!!!!!!!
This cake is great! I am gonna try it this weekend. How many people does this feed? and what size cakes are on the bottom? Thanks for the help!
Fantastic! Now I want to make a cake!
Awesome cake; I love the beachball template idea – I am a template-aholic :oP Please come check out my blog River City Treats – I am currently trying to expand my little cake decor outside of family & friends; you are an inspiration!
The ball is amazing. How do you get it so smooth – does the piping gel work that well?? Or do you cover the ball in fondant first then the pattern??
Thanks for your help!!!
I'm sorry, Sharon, but this has exceeded my daily cuteness limit. I must now go home and go to bed before I see anything else even remotely cute and my head explodes.
Seriously, though, what a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing with us!
I'm sorry, Sharon, but this has exceeded my daily cuteness limit. I must now go home and go to bed before I see anything else even remotely cute and my head explodes.
Seriously, though, what a fantastic idea! Thanks for sharing with us!
I am attempting to make this cake! do you have your templates that you can share? I am new at this! I need them for the side decor! Thanks for sharing!!
I am going to try this cake for my nephew's 1st birthday. Would you mind sending me instructions on how to make a templet for the bottom layer of the cake? What material do you use to make your templets? I'm new at decorating and am very excited about trying this cake. Thanks for all the help you have already given me.