LEGO Birthday Cake

I made Oliver & Jo's LEGO birthday cake! I'd seen a few cakes like these online, but couldn't find any tutorials on how to make them. I did my best, but I wish I'd taken the time at the beginning to cut the sides of the cake to be completely straight. The final product looks a little bumpy. Live and learn, right?

I started work on the bricks a few days before I baked the cake. I bought silicon LEGO block molds that were fairly inexpensive on Amazon (3 for $7.75). I also bought fondant this year instead of making my own. I used an online coupon from Michael's and bought fondant for $5.

I used a melon baller to help measure to make sure my blocks were all about the same size. The first set of fondant LEGO blocks got stuck in the mold. I dusted in the inside with powdered sugar, and that fixed the problem. The rest came out without any problems.

My final supply list:
Fondant pack of green, red, yellow, and blue
White fondant
Powdered sugar (to dust the inside of the molds)
Silicone LEGO block molds
2 boxes of cake (and the ingredients needed to make the cake--eggs, oil, etc)
1 can of frosting (for the crumb layer)
Black gel frosting for the lettering
LEGO figures to decorate the cake

I didn't want to use the blocks up the size of the cake. Instead, I just cut out rectangles from rolled fondant to look like the sizes of the LEGO blocks. I kept all of the fondant pieces in the fridge so they wouldn't lose their shape. 

Two nights before the party, I baked the cake. I used two boxes of cake mix, and I made two 13x9 inch cakes. The next day, I frosted and stacked them as a crumb layer. That afternoon, I covered the cake in a very thin layer of white fondant. It will save you a lot of trouble later if you make sure all of the sides are as flat as possible! I dampened one size of the rectangles (water helps the fondant stick), and I built up the walls in a LEGO brick pattern. You can see my progress here:

When I finished, I added some strips of rolled white fondant and made it look like Emmett was unrolling it onto the cake. I stuck fondant on the bottom of the LEGO figures to get them to stick to the cake.

To make the lettering, I just printed a picture of "Happy Birthday" in LEGO font. I set it over the fondant and cut out the red. Then I set it over the fondant and cut out the yellow, and then I set it over the fondant and cut out the white. I stacked them, and then outlined the white lettering in frosting. I made a makeshift frosting bag out of fondant for Good Cop to hold to try to make it look like he was writing "Happy Birthday."

I found the candy letters at the grocery store. I wanted to give each of the LEGO Movie characters a job, so Benny got the letter R to look like he was spelling out the names.

When the fondant was still soft, I stuck Wyldstyle's arms in the block. I refrigerated her and the block until it was hard, and then I added them to the cake.

Larry the barista is helping make the cake, too!

There's the finished cake! I'd added the white frosting shells to the top to conceal the spot where the sides met the top. I didn't like how it turned out, so I covered it up ;-) I finished the evening before the party and then kept it in the fridge so the fondant wouldn't get too soft and start to droop.

It took a lot of planning and work. I really wish I'd spent more time getting the sides straight, but I still love the cake. It's a lot of fun!

Toddler Play

Oliver's always been clever and has always wanted to figure out how things work. He sees something done once and later has to mimic it. Last week, he saw me using a screw driver to remove the hand railing in our hallway. He took said screwdriver and started trying to stick it in anything that looked like a screw (sometimes, he put it to a screw, but other times, he put it to key holes on door knobs).

I feel like this intelligence is growing with leaps and bounds these days. He can understand nearly everything I tell him or ask him. If I have to get in the oven, he walks to the hallway and stands there, out of harm's way. He started saying some letters, like "F," that I'd never focused on trying to teach him. It makes me happy because it must mean he's listening when we read his ABC book.

Earlier today, he was holding two Lego men, and he announced to me, "Two!" I was floored and so excited. Oliver has understood the concept of one for a while, but I'd been trying to teach him what two means. Anytime he has two of something, I say, "You have two ducks!" or "You have two cookies!" I'll count them for him, "One, two!"

Anyway, I was so excited about the Legos. He got excited that I was excited, and he continued walking around his room, holding his Lego men, saying, "Two," over and over again. Then he grabbed a third and looked at me. I told him, "You have three." He repeated the word, "Two." I laid them out for him and counted, "One, two, three!" So he counted them and said, "Two, two, two." OK, so maybe he didn't completely get the concept of numbers for counting, but it was cute watching him mimic my counting.Oliver's pretend play is constantly growing and getting more extensive. He likes to pretend to sleep, which involves crawling into our bed, tucking himself in, and (with his eyes open) he snores, "Shhhhhh." He also tucks his animals into our bed sometimes. He puts Froggy, Monkey and Panda into his rocking chair and rocks them (usually, he wants me to sing to them, too). He kisses them and has us kiss them, and he has them kiss each other (he makes the kissing sounds for them). His favorite kissing game is playing with this jack-in-the-box (the one where the "Jack" is actually a bear). He has the bear pop out, and then he has his stuffed animals kiss the bear. Oliver also has his animals pretend to eat his Lego blocks.

His favorite thing to play these days is definitely Legos. Multiple times a day, he goes upstairs to build a Lego tower with me. We pour all the blocks onto the floor, and we piece them together. Oliver does an amazing job snapping Lego blocks together and putting them on the tower platform that I build. He sometimes needs my help, but he otherwise does it completely by himself. Usually, he builds straight up, but not always. When it gets too tall, he'll start another column, or he'll ask me to put his pieces on top. Recently, he's started insisting that we use every single piece on the tower, even the car pieces. When we're all done, we get in a pretend fight over who is going to knock the Lego tower over ("You do it!" "No, you!"). Usually, I end up knocking it over, and then we break apart all the pieces and put them away.

It's really exciting for me that Oliver's play is getting more intricate. I love that he's just starting to be able to play with us. This includes playing a rudimentary form of catch. He throws the kickball to us (kind of), and we toss it back lightly to him. He holds his arms out, and he occasionally catches it. Rinse and repeat.

He also enjoys bubbles and is able to blow bubbles himself. Unfortunately, he also really enjoys spilling and pouring these days, so bubbles usually end up all over our sidewalk. Inside, he takes his drinking glasses (since he doesn't typically use a sippy cup) and pours them into things and onto the floor. I have found milk poured into things a day later, after it's started stinking! Day-old milk smells so badly. All I'm saying is, if you come over to our house, and it stinks... blame Oliver!