Explore, rescue, protect! It's the GUP A ...

Justin had an Octonauts themed birthday party this year. I searched the web for inspiration for his cake and fell in love with a few ideas, especially having a cake with the GUP A on it (you have to know the Octonauts to know what this is!)

I wanted to make some of the characters myself too, rather than use the toys that Justin already had but I wasn't sure if my modelling skills were up to the task but they turned out so cute I fell in love with them! I started with Captain Barnacles and Kwazi but then Justin also asked for Peso and Tunip and, as they fitted really well on to the board, I was happy to oblige.

I baked two 9" round cakes (which I coloured blue) and one 12" rectangular cake (plain coloured). The round cakes sunk a little in the middle (I always wonder if this is because of the colouring?) but it didn't matter as the GUP was sat right on top. I chopped the rectangular cake to make the GUP - it started out a bit small but with some jigsaw-puzzle-type skills, some judicious carving and the glue properties of buttercream, you couldn't tell once it was covered in fondant.

I used three different shades of blue fondant - two ready coloured and one I coloured myself for the board. I decorated the round cake with a strip of wavy fondant in two colours and decorated around the edge with brightly coloured seaweed and corals with some pearl sprinkles to fill in the gaps.

The GUP A was actually quite straightforward to decorate: I did a strip of teal icing around the bottom half and a semi-circle over the top. The join was hidden by a rope of icing around the GUP. The cockpit comprised a small teal semi-circle on the bottom, a black semi-circle behind the characters and a raised strip to the front of the cockpit with some small controls for Barnacles and Kwazi to use. A couple of circles, some eyes and some shiny teal coloured sugar balls all around and it was finished, apart from the dangly bit, fins and propeller. I made these and added some pieced of cocktail stick then left them to dry for a few days so that they would hold their shape. The cocktail sticks were then used to fix the various bits onto the GUP.

© 2014 Nicola Noble: Please observe the rules of copyright and blog etiquette. If you use my ideas or images, please link back to my blog. And do let me know - I'd love to take a look.