Our 'Tangled' Party

Both of my girls have summer birthdays. As a general rule, I'm an "over the top" kinda mom when it comes to birthday party theming. And also as a general rule, my girls choose some sort of Disney theme. I've created everything from an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter tea party to a Pixie Hollow Fairies party (complete with a craft paper tree with real branches and leaves). This year, my youngest daughter surprised me by choosing a Barbie theme (what--no Disney?). But my now-eight-year-old Reagan chose Tangled.

The cake posed a particular challenge. While I have some amateur skills, I have no formal training whatsoever. Everything I know about cake decorating, I learned from the Food Network (mostly Duff). So when faced with the task of constructing an edible tower, I chose the common rice crispie treat alternative. I also used PVC pipe as the structure (in retrospect, this was too heavy...probably should have used only the treats or a narrow dowel base). I covered and decorated the tower in fondant (the top is a waffle cone with fondant shingles).

We purchased the characters from the Disney Store in Atlanta when we took a mini-vacation there this spring. Making the actual cake part was...well, a piece of cake! I used buttercream (also not the finest choice, as it has to be refrigerated, and I couldn't fit the entire cake with tower in my frige, forcing me to "stack" it at the last minute).

I'll stop with the excuses and simply show you the finished product.



It actually turned out great, I think. I was pleased, really. Until it started leaning. Despite the piercing blow to my pride, I propped the tower up with popsicle sticks, and we continued with the party. When it was just about time to sing "Happy Birthday" and cut the cake, we all heard a dull thud.



This caketastrophy was inevitable, really. One of my friends commented that it looks as if Flynn is blaming Rapunzel for the whole thing (funny, right?). Fortunately, we were all--even me--able to take this cake wreck in stride and go on with the party. Here are a few pics of our cute decorations too: