Nothing Says "Baby Shower" Like an Alligator

My friend asked me to make her sister's baby shower cake. Since the mama-to-be is a University of Florida fan, it had to have an alligator on it. And it had to have the baby's name on it (Lincoln). Gannon and Maghen (my friend and her sister) both were able to give me some direction in what was wanted, but there was quite a bit of decision-making left to me. That was a bit of a challenge, but I finally came up with a design I liked. Maghen really liked the cake, and her guests all enjoyed the all chocolate treat.

It was a 2-tier cake with buttermilk chocolate cake layers filled with chocolate ganache and frosted in chocolate buttercream and then covered in fondant (all from scratch except cake, which was a doctored cake mix recipe). Even with all the work I did ahead of time to try to make the actual cake-decorating day less chaotic, I was still scrambling to get it done and had to get Audrey to help me with some of the fondant work. My stripes are a little wonky, I mean, purposely curvy. But I was happy with the end result.

My favorite part is, of course, the little gator. I sculpted him first, because he was the hardest part. But I had so much fun making him that I completely lost track of time. I was just in my own little world with that guy and before I knew it, I was WAY over on my time plan. Anyway, here's the cake. It's one of my faves so far.

Thanks to Audrey for helping me finish it, and for taking all the photos for me.

He has a little pacifier in his mouth and a "Go Gators" bib. The baby block has an "L" for Lincoln, an "M" for Maghen, a "J" for Josh (the dad), an "O" for Maghen's maiden name, and an "S" for their last name.

He is holding a University of Florida flag in his tail.

Gannon told me Maghen liked argyle so I added that to the bottom tier.