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Animal Emoji Cakes

Getting WILD With Animal Emojis For Earth Day!

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To celebrate Earth Day, I’m combining my love for animals and Mother Earth with one of my FAVE things - emojis!

That’s why I’ve caked together THREE animal emojis out of my Ultimate Banana Cake recipe, filled them with Chocolate Buttercream and decorated them with sweet fondant details so they look just like those cute animal emojis on your phone. ‘Cause who doesn’t LOVE animals or emojis, right?

Note: The reason why I love emojis is because they are just SO cakeable! Even though I chose these three emojis to celebrate Earth Day, you can choose whichever ones you like and use the same process as I’ve explained in this recipe below (with your own fondant colours and template depending on the animal you choose), and still create a fun & relatable fondant cake for your special event.

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Baking the Cake:

2 x 6 lbs Yo’s Ultimate Banana Cake

Icing The Cake:

Covering The Cake:

Panda

1 1/2 lbs White Fondant
1/2 lb Black Fondant

Monkey

1 1/2 lb White Fondant
1/4 lb Brown Fondant
1 oz Red Fondant
1 oz Black Fondant

Tiger

1 1/2 lbs Yellow Fondant
1/4 lb White Fondant
Wilton Ivory Icing Color
1 oz Red Fondant
¼ lb Black Fondant

Icing Sugar
Clear Piping Gel

Item Name:	Availability:
6 x 8” Round Cake Pans, lined with parchment paper
Rubber Spatula
Ruler
Serrated Knife
Small Serrated Knife
Small Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Fondant Smoother
Paring Knife
Fondant Rolling Pin	Add to Cart -
Non-stick Mat
Pointed Sculpting Tool
Circle Cutters	Add to Cart - $24.99
Oval Cutters
#803 Round Piping Tip
#806 Round Piping Tip
Brush
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle	Add to Cart -

Preparation

Bake Cakes

Prepare your Ultimate Banana Cake batter and divide it so there’s 2 lbs of batter in each of your 8” pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cakes completely in their pans sitting on a wire rack.

Prepare Italian Meringue Buttercream

Prepare your Italian Meringue Buttercream. Set aside.

Prepare Chocolate Buttercream

Prepare your Chocolate Buttercream. Set aside.

Prepare Simple Syrup

Prepare your simple syrup and set aside at room temperature.

Level Cakes

Once your cakes are completely cool, remove them from their pans and level with a ruler and serrated knife. Make sure to remove the caramelization from the bottoms of each cake, and set aside the “humps” (or cake scraps) for later. We’ll be using these to create some dimension on our emoji animals later on!

Shower With Simple Syrup!

Shower all of your cake layers with simple syrup. Allow the simple syrup to soak in completely before moving on to the next step.

Note: Just like my Ultimate Carrot Cake, this banana cake is very moist, so be sure to give it a lighter sprinkling than usual!

Fill With Buttercream

Ice three of your cake layers with Chocolate Buttercream using your small offset spatula, then place the other three layers on top.

Chill Out!

Chill your cakes in the fridge for about 20 minutes, or until buttercream is fully set.

Create A Template

Print out a copy of each of your emoji animals that are the same size as your cakes. Lay each printed animal template on top of a plain piece of paper and use it as a guide to cut out two emoji shapes at the same time. (Your printed emoji animal template will be used for details & decoration, while the plain paper in the shape of your emoji animal face will be used as a template for the shape of your cakes.) Cut out one ear from your printed animal templates and set aside.

Note: Although this recipe covers the Panda, Monkey & Tiger emoji animals, feel free to choose whichever emojis you’d like!

Shape Your Emoji Cakes

It’s time to start carving! Lay your three plain paper emoji templates on top of each of your cakes. Use a serrated knife to carve around the paper template. Now round out the top edges of all your cakes.

Cut Out Some Animal Ears

Remember those cake scraps? Now’s the time to use them! Take your cake humps - sandwiched together with a bit of buttercream - and cut out two ears out for each animal using your cut-out templates, making sure they are both equal in size. You want the ears to be half the height of your cake. Once you are satisfied with the shape, place both ears up against the animal face to which they belong.

Crumb Coat & Chill

Crumb coat all three cakes with Italian Meringue buttercream using your small icing spatula & chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Ice & Chill

Remove cakes from the fridge and ice again, making sure that the buttercream is completely level and even on all sides. Chill for another 20 minutes.

Note: While the cakes are chilling you can cut out all of the features on your printed animal emoji templates individually, so you can use them as stencils for size and placement to help create the fondant pieces.

Cover Your Panda Cake

Roll out your white fondant to be about ⅛ of an inch thick and cover the whole cake, using a fondant smoother or your hands to get the fondant flush to the cake. Trim away any excess fondant with a sharp paring knife. Using your printed template as a guide, create a 2-dimensional ‘snout’ using some of your leftover white fondant. Secure to your cake with a bit of water, making sure the position is correct with the help of your template.

Decorate Your Panda

Using some black fondant, shape your panda’s nose with your hands so that it looks like a rounded, upside-down triangle. Using your template as reference, take a pointed sculpting tool and create two nostrils at the base of the nose. Affix with water and a brush. Roll out some more black fondant large enough to cover both ears, cut into two equal pieces and glue each piece to your panda’s ears with some water, smoothing it to your cake. Trim away any excess.

Add Some Panda Details

Mix some of your remaining white fondant with a pinch of black until you achieve a soft grey colour. Roll out your grey fondant as thin as possible and cut out two shapes for the inner ears and eyes with your sharp paring knife - using your printed emoji template as a guide. Roll out your remaining black and white fondant with your fondant rolling pin and non-stick mat and use your template/stencils to cut out the rest of your panda’s features, securing them to your cake with a bit of water brushed onto the surface of the fondant. Let dry.

Note: If you are creating all three emoji animals, make sure to create enough grey fondant to use on your Tiger emoji animal face, as well.

Cover Your Monkey Cake

Mix about 1 ¼ lbs white fondant and ¼ lb brown fondant together to achieve a lightened brown colour. Using the same method as we did with Panda, roll out your light brown fondant to be about ⅛ of an inch thick and cover your entire cake, smoothing the fondant so it’s flush to the cake and trimming away any excess.

Create Your Monkey’s Colour

With your remaining fondant, create your monkey’s unique colours by using the following formulas:

Grey (eyes) - white + pinch of black
Burgundy (mouth) - red + pinch of black
Pink (ears) - red + pinch of white
Tan (face) - leftover light brown + remaining white

Decorate Your Monkey

Using your template as a guide, roll out your tan fondant to about ¼ of an inch thick and cut out the inside of your monkey’s face. Smooth the edges with your fingertips to make it look more rounded and smooth. Using same process as you did for Panda, roll out all of your remaining fondant colours with your fondant rolling pin and non-stick mat. Use your template/stencils to cut out the rest of your monkey’s features - like his eyes, ears, mouth and nostrils - securing them to your cake with a bit of water brushed onto the surface of the fondant. Let dry.

Add Some Monkey Details

Using your monkey template as a guide, take a rounded sculpting tool and create two semi-circle indents (or a sideways #3) around your monkey’s nostrils to give his nose some definition.

Cover Your Tiger Cake

Using the same method as we did with the last two cakes, roll out your yellow fondant to be about ⅛ of an inch thick and cover your entire cake, smoothing the fondant so it’s flush to the cake and trimming away any excess.

Decorate Your Tiger Cake

Mix some of your remaining white fondant with a bit of ivory icing colour to create a more muted, natural ivory colour for your tiger’s ‘beard’. Roll out your ivory fondant to about ¼ of an inch thick and cut your tiger’s ‘beard’ out with a sharp paring knife. Secure with a bit of brushed-on water. Using your template as a guide, carefully cut out the section of your tiger’s beard with a sharp paring knife where his red tongue will go and remove from your cake. With your remaining rolled-out ivory fondant, create a half-circle that goes underneath his red tongue to make it look like his mouth is open. Affix with water and let dry.

Add Your Tiger’s Nose

Take your leftover ivory fondant that we used to create your tiger’s beard and knead in a pinch of black to create a darker ivory colour. Use your hands to shape a rounded, upside-down triangle, creating two indents for the nostrils with your pointed sculpting tool. Affix with water and let dry.

Add Some Tiger Details

Finally, using same process as you did for your previous cakes, roll out all of your remaining fondant colours with your fondant rolling pin and non-stick mat. Use your template/stencils to cut out the rest of your tiger’s features - like his eyes, tongue and stripes - securing them to your cake with a bit of water brushed onto the surface of the fondant. Let dry.

Note: This was the most difficult animal of the three because his stripes have to be exactly aligned - which is why I love templates so much! As long as you’re following the template, everything should add up just right.

Congratulations!

If all went well, you should see something that looks like this...

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