Under the Sea Surprise Birthday Cake

The six year old was not surprised about his birthday party but was pleased as punch when he saw his cake. The kid loves to watch nature shows and collects dvds of under-the-sea animations.  I built the coral  reef on top of two square brownies put together to make a rectangular foundation. Sprinkled ground roasted cashews and chocolate chips to look like sand and placed his favorite fish.

The fragile corals I made by piping melted chocolate on a flat baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I first outlined a pyramid as a strong base to hold the branches of the coral. When I finish one  I put  them in the fridge to harden. I made different shades of corals with dark and white chocolate. The big ones are made of the kid's favorite kitkat bars. Coated and glued them together with milk chocolate. I had to color the fish made of white chocolate to resemble his fish character.

When I was ready to build the reef, I transfered each one on my kitchen counter which is cooler. They were hard enough to peel off the sheet and stand as background.

I had to build this buttress type of structure to support the fragile chocolate corals. Of course the cake looked like a disaster area after the party.