Bear Cake

I've had my eyes on this bear cake for just about two years now (since the May 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living to be exact). So when it was time to help throw my good friend Jodi's baby shower, I knew which task I wanted to volunteer for. ("Uhm, Hi. If no one else is already making a bear cake, I could do that?")

Honestly, for a Martha Stewart-based endeavor, this actually wasn't that hard, provided you give yourself two afternoons to make it and don't skip the step of sifting the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder that goes into the icing. Otherwise, it may take you over an hour to pipe all of that fur onto the bear's body as the decorating tip will continue to get blocked up and you will have to stop every thirty seconds to unclog it and shake your hand out so as to prevent it from cramping.

The other important tip I have is to cut out all of the paper pieces from the template and lay out a paper version of the cake ahead of the time. This will help you find and/or acquire something big enough to put the cake on and yet small enough that it will still fit into your refrigerator. For me, this meant using the largest cutting board I own and then chopping down (manicuring? stubbifying?) the bear arms so that the paws weren't sadly hanging off the sides. 

If you have to transfer the cake to someone else's house, I would also recommend hiring a driver (Gyuri perhaps? Sorry, sorry. Weird Goldfinch reference. I'm in The Goldfinch zone as I have book club tonight and only 50 pages left!) so that you can sit with it resting on top of your lap.

In non-cake news, Teddy celebrated his big nine-week birthday this weekend and got to meet his uncle! Surely you remember my brother Bill from the fish tacos video, right? Well, as you can see, the two of them really hit it off.

OK, back to The Goldfinch... byeee!

For recipes and step-by-step bear-cake instructions, go here!