Barn Yard Birthday Cake

Saturday was my youngest child's birthday! I can't believe that he is 2!!!

My baby is getting SO OLD!!

I wanted to make him a fun cake for his birthday.

So I googled around and found THIS amazing site showing this amazing video of how to make the most ADORABLE barn yard cake:

I was in LOVE the moment I saw it! And it looked easy enough that even I could do it! So I set to work.

I baked up a yellow cake mix into a 9x9 and 9 cupcakes (the recipe tells you can make 12 cupcakes--but I only ended up with 9).

Here is the cake as it cake out of the oven (a little cracked--but icing works like a charm to fix that kind of thing).

Then I cut it in the shape of a barn.

Then came the HARDEST part of this whole project...MAKING RED ICING. I used 1/2 a tub of food coloring paste, and 1/2 a bottle of liquid food coloring (no joking--I really did) and all I was able to achieve was this bright PINK color!!! I was NOT HAPPY! (and it actually looks redder in this picture than it did in real life).

I googled my icing problem as well and all the sites said to wait 24 hours and the color would darken over time but I didn't have the time then to wait (I did sit the frosting on the counter as an experiment--and it did darken over about 24-36 hours), but because I was on a schedule--and I didn't want to take the chance that it MIGHT darken--I decided to do the only thing left--SEND MY HUBBY TO THE STORE at 9:30 at night FOR RED ICING!

Two of these little tubes cost $8!!

The icing companies must know how hard it is to get a true red frosting--and prey on people who are desparate!! I mean $8? Come on!

(But it was worth it--It saved me from having a PINK BARN!!!)

The frosting was HORRIBLE STUFF though--just as a warning. It was SUPER STICKY and GLUEY and TAR LIKE. And when I first put it on--it looked like I had just put ketchup over the whole cake! (But it was still cuter than the pink!)

Over time--it dulled a little bit so it wasn't SO SHINY. But these are the pictures I snapped right after I finished decorating...so you'll have to imagine it not so shiny!

And here are some pictures of all the animals all chilling in the tray waiting to be put to pasture.

And then finally--the whole things comes together!

It came together so CUTE! It is my FAVORITE cake yet!

I had SO MUCH FUN putting it together (DESPITE all my RED ICING PROBLEMS).

And what did the birthday boy think of it?

He LOVED it too!

And what do you think?

Oh yah...it tasted pretty good too.

Happy Birthday my little man!

Linking up to:

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday