Mr. Met cake

Ok, so were working on a Mr. Met birthday cake for Friday. I want it to be perfect. I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm already stressing out. I woke up today and baked 2 red velvet sheet cakes (3 if you count the one that somehow boiled into a syrup because my oven got too hot, which has never happened before so I don't know what that's about)

For about 2 weeks we have been discussing the size of Mr. Mets head. I have a ball pan from Wilton, but it just didn't seem big enough. Then I have a much larger ball pan with an 8" diameter, but that looked too big.

We also planned on using cake for the head, but after a trial run using the red velvet cake we came to the conclusion that it's just too soft. There just arent enough dowels in the world to get a round ball of soft red velvet cake to stay on top of a 4 layer red velvet cake without falling right over. (Trial cake was then broken down into red velvet balls for the 4th of July, I just can't justify wasting cake lol)

So, Rice Krispie treat ball it is! And the best part was that we didn't need a pan to shape it. It took a double batch of the gooey treat to create this giant head by hand, but at least I know I won't have to worry (too much) about it rolling off before they cut into it.

The majority of the body is already stacked and frosted with cream cheese frosting and chilling overnight before we cover it with some home made marshmallow fondant. We just have to build the arms out of the rest of the cake and I will also need to whip up a 3rd batch of cream cheese frosting. I also made buttercream to coat the ball with before we cover it so it's nice and smooth.

Mike is currently shaping out the tiny Met's hat from a 50/50 blend of regular fondant and gum paste dyed royal blue. This should take about 2 days to set. I am so excited to see this all come together! I'm sure it's gonna look great, but I just can't help but be nervous! So far, about 6 hours have already gone into this cake and we haven't even begun to decorate it. Tomorrow we must complete the structure and cover the whole thing with the marshmallow fondant. I hope everything just falls into place from there.