I made this Jungle Safari Cake a while ago for Daniel’s 1st birthday party. This post ends my series of posts about a Safari / Jungle Themed birthday party. Here are all the other posts in case you missed them:

Part II – Appetizers, Finger Foods & Snack Ideas

Part III – DIY Decoration Ideas + FREE Printables

Part IV – Cheap Party Supplies & Decorations

How to Make Safari / Jungle Animals Fondant Cupcake Toppers – Tiger, Zebra, Giraffe, Elephant, Monkey, Hippo, Bear, Lion

Teddy Bear Fondant Cake Topper

Ingredients

Walnut Cake:

For a 10.5 inch (26.7 cm) round pan:

8 eggs
45 ml water (8 Tbsp)
150 g flour
240 g sugar
4 Tbsp ground walnuts

Double the ingredients to make two 10-inch cakes.

For a 7 inch (17.7 cm) round pan:

5 eggs
28 ml water (5 Tbsp)
100 g flour
150 g sugar
2.5 Tbsp ground walnuts

Double the ingredients to make two 7-inch cakes.

Sugar Syrup to Moisten the Cake:

400 ml water
10 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp rum extract

Whipped Chocolate Ganache Filling:

600 g dark chocolate (baking or couverture chocolate)
1.2 l whipping cream
200 g ground walnuts

Covering the Cake:

5 lbs green fondant ( 2.3 kg)
1 lb white fondant + yellow, orange, brown, dark green and black gel food colouring for the fondant decorations; or you can buy fondant already coloured in those colours

Other Tools/Items:

10 inch & 7 inch cake boards
4 Boba plastic straws or cake dowels
Leaf fondant cutter
Flower plunger cutter
Tree bark fondant impression mat
Upper Case Funky Alphabet and Number Tappit Cutters
Lower Case Funky Alphabet Tappit Cutters Set
Set of 3 Sugar Paste Narrow Leaf Cutters
1.5’’ flower cookie cutter
1’’ circle cutter
1 Wilton/Ateco round decorating tip #8
A small paint brush

Directions

Making the Cake

Use the ingredients listed above and follow the step-by-step instructions in this other post to make your 4 cakes.

Bake the cakes, let them cool off and cut each of them horizontally in two.

Make your sugar syrup by boiling the water with the sugar and adding the vanilla extract at the end. Let it cool off.

Making the Filling

Make the whipped chocolate ganache following the steps in this recipe. Make this at least a 8 hours before you are ready to assemble the cake as it needs to cool off in the fridge before whipping it.

Set aside 200 g of the whipped ganache to crumb coat the cake before covering it with fondant.

Then, add the ground walnuts to the remaining whipped ganache and fold them in with a spatula.

Assembling and Decorating the Cake

Assembling the Cake

Spread some filling on your 10’’ cake board and place the first cake layer on top. Moisten it with sugar syrup and spread whipped chocolate ganache filling on top (~300 g of ganache per layer). Repeat the steps for the 2nd and 3rd cake layers. Lastly, place the 4th cake layer on top and moisten it with sugar syrup.

Repeat the steps for the 7’’ cake. You should spread ~ 200g whipped ganache per cake layer.

Crumb coat the cakes with a thin layer of the ganache you saved. Refrigerate them for 1-2 hours.

Covering the Cakes with Fondant

Knead and roll 2/3 of your green fondant to cover the 10’’ inch cake.

Before rolling out your fondant, sprinkle some powdered sugar or cornstarch on your work surface and knead it until it has a workable consistency and it doesn’t feel and look dry.

Use a measuring tape or a piece of string to measure the top and sides of the cake. So if you measured 10’’ across the top and your cake is 4’’ tall that is 18’’ of cake in total so you need to roll out the fondant at least 20 inches in diameter but you should leave an inch or two extra. Sprinkle some powdered sugar onto your work surface and roll out the green fondant in the approximate shape of your cake (i.e. circle for a round cake). As you are rolling it make sure you lift the fondant occasionally and rotate it 45 degrees to make sure it doesn’t stick to your work surface. If it sticks lift the fondant and sprinkle more powdered sugar or cornstarch.

Gently lift fondant over rolling pin and place it on the side of the cake. Start unrolling the fondant from the side of the cake and across the top to the other side.

Smooth the fondant with a fondant smoother (or the palm of your hand) starting from the top. Start to gently pull the fondant out and down around the sides of the cake using one hand and spread the excess fondant and smooth it out using a fondant smoother (or your other hand).

Keep turning the cake and repeating these steps until the sides are smooth and without any ruffles formed towards the bottom. It’s better if you use a fondant smoother since the pressure of your hands could leave marks and the warmth from your hands might make the fondant sticky.

Use your fondant smoother to get rid of any wrinkles and air bubbles as well. If you see any air bubbles, insert a pin on an angle, release the air and smooth the area again.

Trim the edges at the bottom using an X-Acto knife, a pizza cutter or any other sharp knife you have.

Repeat the same steps to cover the 7’’ cake and place it on the 7’’ cake board.

Cut 4 boba straws or cake dowels to the height of the 10’’ cake and insert them into the cake.

Spread another bit of frosting on top and place the 7’’ cake on top.

Making the Fondant Decorations

Sprinkle some powdered sugar or cornstarch on your work surface and roll out the brown fondant. Gently press the tree bark fondant impression mat onto the fondant to give it the wood effect.

Cut a 3.5’’ x 4.5’’ square to make the wooden sign post. Then, cut a thin 1’’ x 6’’ strip to make the post. Lastly, cut two thin strips for the top and bottom edges of the sign.

Assemble the sign post by using a bit of water to glue everything together.

Use the tappit cutter to make the number 1 and attach it to your sign.

Make the leaves for the palm trees using the leaf cutters and the dark green fondant. Then, for the tree trunk, roll a log out of brown fondant and make some indentations using the back of a knife blade or the blunt knife fondant tool.

Make the elephant, giraffe and lion as shown in the pictures below.

Attach all the fondant decorations to the cake using some water.

Use the Upper Case Tappit Cutters and Lower Case Funky Alphabet Tappit Cutters to make the letters of your kid’s name out of yellow fondant. Use the flower plunger cutter to make the small flowers out of white fondant.

Paint the bear paws on the cake using brown food colouring mixed with a few drops of vodka or water.

For the Teddy Bear Fondant Cake Topper, follow this link to see the tutorial.

Smash Cake

I made a 5’’ Smash Cake following the same recipes and steps above. You just need to reduce the ingredients – e.g. make each cake out of 4 eggs, use about 300 g of whipped ganache filling.