I volunteered myself to make a cake for a first grade class party... but really I was looking for a project. Although not the most clean cut cake decoration, it's not the worst thing I've thrown together either.
Step One: Cut Jerusalem out of gum-paste, sugar dough, fondant or modeling chocolate (whatever)
Step Two: Paint. (Gel food coloring and vodka)
Step Three: Frost to perfectly baked cake.
I think you'll find all the essentials of the Jerusalem experience are featured in this cake, windmill, walls, towers, camel, palms. And yes, that is the Western Wall made of rice-krispey treats.
Enjoy!
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Tutorial
After much Googling for the perfect Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday cake, I decided that for baby 3's 1st birthday I would go way over the top with some sugar-dough painting. If you haven't ever worked with fondant or sugar-dough, it helps to look at the dough as clay; sticky, quick drying, finicky clay.
However, I took a slight gamble on painting the individual elements of this caking, hoping it would produce a watercolor-ish, Eric Carle inspired VHC birthday cake.
Here's how it turned out:
I started with a non-dairy pound cake recipe, lots of green gel food coloring.... a
nd more fake "buttercream" frosting than I care to admit.
I think the most inspiring element of the Very Hungry Caterpillar is that the illustrations look vibrant and timeless, so I used the bright dots on the cake as well as in the invitations and other party elements.
I got so caught up in this enormous cake that took us many weeks to eat (even more to sweat off) that I even made a few dozen cupcakes just in case we didn't e enough batter in our systems.
The cupcakes were so ridiculously green, the kids weren't even sure if they were allowed to eat them.
Trust me, they got over they got over their confusion.
The cupcake toppers and wrappers were just a few quick DIY projects, maybe a quick tutorial template to follow? Let me know if anyone is interested.
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Very Hungry Caterpillar
How do you throw an entirely successful "Very Hungry Caterpillar" 1st birthday party when you are either on a budget or live in a nation with no caterpillar party accessories in sight?
You say to yourself "Guess I'll just have to whip up a party solely on wit and grit!"
Very Hungry Caterpillar party idea are pretty easy to come by after a few dozen searches. So if your setting out to craft the bajeebeez out of your child's birthday, you're in good company.
Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Invitations
Although some things absolutely require a good understanding of photoshop and advanced image manipulation, these invites were simple Word creations using graphics found online. Seriously, "Copy, Paste & Rotate," are pretty simple to work with. Stick to the basics and make your own life easier. I saw this layout in a few forums, I'm sorry I don't know who to credit as the crafty mastermind.
Outside (you're invited)
Use a straight hole punch for peek-thru fruit
Inside (leaf and party details)
Back- "out came a beautiful butterfly."
Envelope front
Envelope back
All envelope and invitation formatting was achieved through a process of what can only be described as "futzing."
Posted in
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Very Hungry Caterpillar
