Pocoyo Revisited

Pocoyo is probably one of the anime that I like for little children.  My Robert grew up on that series and he (used to) love it.  It's very simple anime, but very effective.  The characters don't say much, but they have all the expressions.  It's narrated by Stephen Fry and oh, he's so fab with his British accents.  Pocoyo was one of my very first few cakes that I made, back in 2010.  Back then, I was spending days and nights trying to get the details right.  Elly's (the elephant) hand kept of falling because I did not know how to attach them properly.  Pato's (the duck) hat was weirdly placed, and Pocoyo looked like a lego character... haha... I still remembered that I was almost in tears since the bottom of the cake was ripping and I had to re-do.  Those were the days....  So here's the two Pocoyo cakes: the first one was the recent one, and the second picture was the one that I did back in 2010.  I am very happy that I have come so far and I am very proud when I see the progression of my cakes.

 

circa 2013

circa 2010

Happy Birthday, Little One (Pocoyo cake)

I was reminded once again of how time flies. My baby, who's not so little anymore, just turned two last week. I had "Teddy Bears picnic" in mind for his birthday cake, but after watching him enjoying Pocoyo on daily basis, I decided to make him a Pocoyo-themed cake. Pocoyo is a animated series about this young lad's life adventure with his buddies: Ely, the pink elephant; Pato, the duck; Loula, the dog; and sleepy bird.

It's the first time for me to make fondant/gumpaste figurines based on actual characters. It took me lots of try to get Pocoyo right, even then I am not 100% happy with how he's turned out, he's more like a lego character than Pocoyo. The second character was Ely, the elephant. She's not THAT hard to make, but she is larger than the rests, and of course, I have to pick an awkward pose for her.... yes, that's me, always up for a challenge. The gumpaste figurine was heavy on top, so I have to use a lot of supports (read: cocktail sticks and spaghetti sticks).
Though I wasn't completely happy with those two gumpaste figurines, my dearest son recognized the two characters in an instant, it gives you such a gratifying experience.

I hand cut the "trees" made of chocolate fondant, I pre-cut the tiny flowers (for the flower bushes--and boy aren't they so tiny!) and just place the rests of the guys on top of the cake. I also made small colorful balloons made of gumpaste.

Here's the scene that I have to make the adaptation from:

And here's the finished cake!

Happy Birthday, my dearest Son...