Owl Birthday!

I made this cake for my two year old daughter who loves birds.  

She especially loves Owls.  

 The top is a 6", bottom tier is a 8" cake. 

On this cake I tried modeling chocolate instead of fondant.   The cake shows all use modeling chocolate, and although it hardens a lot quicker, I found it frustrating to use.  The chocolate is rock hard, then you warm it in your hands, and can mold it until your hands get too warm and the chocolate starts melting on your palms.  So making the owls was a messy process.  The pieces seem more fragile also.  I think I will use modeling chocolate when I need to have pieces  harden quickly, but if I have the time, I think fondant and gumpaste works better for figures. 

On the second owl I mixed the modeling chocolate with the fondant, 1:1 which I had read you could do as well.  I did not like it at all, don't try it- it was very dry and crumbly yet greasy.  It was a learning process and I ended up making a total of 4 owls for this one cake, I settled on my favorite two.  

The cake was surrounded with trees, and flowers made of cheerful colors, fun for a two year old birthday!