Monday, March 23, 2009

The Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Party Train!











I loved doing this so much! I get such joy when I receive a phone call or email from someone with a great request. The Hungry Caterpillar for a 1st birthday bash? You betcha!! Just for the fun of it I decided to document the "making of" the caterpillar, so here it is!

I first made a ridiculously cute and small round vanilla layer cake with vanilla buttercream, covered in red fondant to create the adorable face of my little caterpillar buddy. Fondant eyes and nose, and two antennae, plus little bootie feet for the caterpillar were also made! I did vanilla cupcakes, and vanilla buttercream in a "psychedelic swirl" effect, blending two shades of green to try and mimic Eric Carle's beautiful watercolors. Little chocolate sprinkles plunked one by one into the buttercream created the furry bits of the caterpillar. To finish, I made a baby friendly "berry patch"-- low sugar banana cupcakes with mint leaves and fresh berries. The key to the puzzle was securing each cupcake down with my good pal Royal Icing. This stuff hardens like glue, so the cupcakes would remain secure on their polka dot cake board while traveling. Additional grass green frosted cupcakes with pretty flowers, roses and leaves also accompanied Caterpillar on his journey to 1st Birthday Land.

Eeks this made me so happy... and here's to a very Happy 1st Birthday to cute little Jamie!

98 comments:

Tara said...

Lyndsay Sung! Amazing rendition of that very hungry caterpillar. Did you see Google's homepage the other day? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/5021384/Google-celebrates-Eric-Carles-Very-Hungry-Caterpillar.html

gyoza*girl said...

OOOOOOOOOOH I love your Hungry Caterpillar cake/cupcake train. Love the swirly greens in the frosting too, just like the look of the book. That's one lucky little one-year-old who got it for his bday. :) Awesome work mb!

Jennywenny said...

So ridiculously cute!

apparentlyjessy said...

This is STUNNING! I am continuously astounded by your beautiful creations! I actually gasped! I adored the hungry caterpillar book as a kid, and you recreated it beautifully! I love how vibrant the green is, and I really liked the added touch of chocolate sprinkles for the 'fur'. Amazing job, and very inspiring!

s e e d. said...

i want it!

Coco Cake Land said...

-tara, what an awesome and amazing fluke! eric carle's birthday!? how cool!
-gyoza girl, aka my sis, thanks!!! can't wait til BB turns 2!
--thanks jennywenny, jessy and seed! i appreciate it!

Fin-ish Me Cupcakes said...

This is a really cute cupcake train/caterpillar cake!
ilove the colours you got it right on spot! Good job:)

Snooky doodle said...

How cute. The colours are so nice and the caterpillar perfect :)

Coco Cake Land said...

thank you my talented cake master internet pals! :)

RecipeGirl said...

LOVE, the caterpillar!!! So very cute!

TSCHAU TSCHÜSSI said...

yummi! i had to post this! http://tschautschuessi.blogspot.com/
my favorite book when i was a child!
great!

The Food Librarian said...

So cute! I love it!!!

Anonymous said...

I love the caterpillar cupcakes! I loved the books when I was little, so not only is it a really clever idea, it also made me a little nostalgic for kindergarten. :)

pink cupcake vintage said...

oh my goodness! these are so gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic job - such attention to detail!

I'm going to link to this post in a couple of weeks when I write about Spring Desserts.

Lori said...

I love this cake. You did a wonderful job. My kids would so love this!

Colleen - Mommy Always Wins said...

Oh my god, what a CUTE cake!!!

anne said...

This is the coolest kids cake I've ever seen! It's beautiful and whimsical and so much fun!

anne @ pearvana.com

Coco Cake Land said...

thank you all! eric carle has a lot of combined book and cupcake friends out there!!! :)

Unknown said...

very cute...:)

You Are My Fave said...

One of the best books, one of the best cupcake creations. It all works together. Love it.

Heidi Leon Monges said...

oh God! just love it!! So ingenious of you make it, bravo!

Emily said...

Such a cute cake! Love it!
Where do you buy your frosting tips?

Puslebit. said...

Go cupcakes go!
I'm so glad I (by accident) found your lovely blog. Your cup cakes are art, smart and look tasty. I think I'll make cupcakes soon, you really inspired me. :)

Coco Cake Land said...

merci beaucoup toute le monde!
--emily, the frosting tip i used for the green swirlies is 1M, it's a star tip, you can find it online everywhere and at any cake decorating shop! or even craft megastores carry them.

Rosa said...

Just saw this link to your blog over at Craftzine. Absolutely perfect, this. I want one for *my* birthday!!

Laura said...

This is amazing!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

These are amazing! I'll have to link to this in my next Crafty Food Roundup. How creative!

Coco Cake Land said...

rosa, laura, rachel-- thank you! rachel, i'd love to be part of your craft round-up! great website you have!

Unknown said...

wow! that is so wonderful!

babyelephant said...

hi lyndsay!

did you know your caterpillar cupcakes were on swiss-miss.com, an amazing blog based out of DUMBO NY!

good for you! YAY!

TeamMcDonough said...

Wow! Great Work

Finger-Lickin' Eats said...

The caterpillar is adorable! I took one glance and it took right back into the book x).

Hoosier Homemade said...

Those cupcakes are amazing! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz

Angie @ Many Little Blessings said...

Oh my goodness! This is SO cute! I love it!

Aimée said...

Artistic and adorable!

I'd love to reproduce this for my babies next birthday.

Thao said...

Oh my goodness! This may be the cutest thing ever. I love your blog!

Ruth Ellis said...

Love your blog and LOVE the caterpillar cake - I was obsessed with that book as a kid.

Coco Cake Land said...

thank you all! i totes appreciate the compliments! fun times! :)

amy & lisa said...

Hi! I just did a party post on The Very Hungry Caterpillar and since I used a picture from your blog, I wanted you to know. I hope that is ok!!
Have a great day. :)
Lisa

The Fab Miss B said...

Gorgeous! Makes me want to throw a kid a party!

CALLANAN CLAN said...

This is an absolutely wonderful creation..Can I ask what greens you used...Wonderful!!

Coco Cake Land said...

hi callanan clan!
for my greens, i actually just used classic leaf green (gel color) and lemon yellow, and blended until i got a bright sort of fluorescent green. that, blended with leaf green in the piping bag gave it a more "tie-dye melding colors" vibe.

thanks!!

miamorsweets said...

Hey Lindsay, Hope you don't mind, I stole your idea here to make some cupcakes for my kindergarteners. Thanks for the inspiration!

CALLANAN CLAN said...

Hi Lyndsay..Also wanted to ask 'if I am frosting with buttercream the day before it is going to be eaten should I put the cakes in the fridge?'

Many thanks once again....

Coco Cake Land said...

CC, sorry i just saw this comment! you can put your cupcakes in the fridge (i use my cupcake courier to do so) but make sure you get them back to room temperature before serving (2-3 hours before serving!) next time if you have a Q send me an email to lyndsay@cococake.com!

--also send me pics of your caterpillar!! i love seeing what other people are up to!

MIK said...

Incredible. I am going to make this for my sister's baby shower. I don't have much experience with cake decorating, but I think it will be fun! Thank you so much for sharing.

Coco Cake Land said...

Open Loop, don't you worry--- it will turn out awesome!! Email me if you have any questions.

Lyndsay :)

sara@augustfields said...

this is SO FUN! you did a spectacular job :)

Tegan | Celebrate Twelve13 said...

I saw this linked from the Crafty Crow and although my son is only 5 months old, it has already inspired the planning for his first birthday-- including this adorable cupcake creation!!!

Unknown said...

I'm making this tomorrow. I think I'll try to shoot it, but I don't think it will be as pretty as your picture!

Juicytots said...

Hi

I hope it is ok I have linked to your blog from mine. I LOVE your cake! I plan to try it out for my dd2's birthday, so will let you know how I get on.

Anonymous said...

love the caterpillar cake. wondering if you used buttercream for cupcakes.

James said...

Tomorrow I hosted a cupcake party for a friend who had a birthday recently. In case you’re wondering what a cupcake party is, here’s a general idea:

1. Invite a bunch of people over.
2. Make a batch of chocolate cupcakes.
3. Make a batch of vanilla (‘yellow’) cupcakes.
4. Ask your guests to bring frosting, sprinkles, and other toppings.
5. Make gift certificates for silly cupcake categories.
6. Get cheap prizes for everyone.
7. Have fun!

Yasmine said...

This is the cutest cupcake arrangement i have seen yet!!!

Coco Cake Land said...

thanks everyone!

yes anonymous, it's buttercream! :)

Sara said...

So, so, so beautiful. I think I'll be making it for my niece's birthday. I just love it, and even I could make it.
Thank you. it is such a gorgeous cake.

Nina said...

I am planning on using your beautiful cupcake creation for inspiration for my daughter's first birthday! It truly is a masterpiece! Please let me know what size round cake you used for the caterpillar's head and what tip you used for the cupcake frosting. Thanks!!

sandi d said...

WOW! Amazing cake!

Coco Cake Land said...

thanks for your kind comments!

nina, it's a 7 inch round cake that I used for the head, and a star tip for the frosting.

Lala said...

Awesome, makes me hungry :P

Anonymous said...

Fantastic job - such attention to detail!
thank you all! eric carle has a lot of combined book and cupcake friends out there!!! :)
------------------------
wisata riau

Merrihew Few said...

I absolutely love what you did for the party theme! I'm so excited to do this for my son's 1st Birthday in February. I appreciate your tips as well with all the supplies you used in the comments. So very helpful..thanks!

Andrea said...

I love these cupcakes! I'm attempting them for my daughter's 2nd birthday this weekend. Do you make those flags? Are they just craft paper and toothpicks/skewers? They are adorable!

Birthday Gifts said...

wow,

I love the cake's design. It's so cute..:)

Rochelle Peters said...

Hey, i was wondering if you could do an Ice Age cake for my son, he is going to be one this April. And how much would it cost?

Coco Cake Land said...

glad to be of help merrihew!

andrea, yes i handmake the flags. craft paper and skewers or toothpicks, exactly!

rochelle, please email lyndsay@cococake.com for inquiries! thanks!

Marina said...

wow!!!!

Mrs. Mommy said...

I saw this blog months ago and decided that we were doing an Eric Carle themed party for our son's first birthday. I did my own version of your adorable cake and posted it on my own blog! http://lettersarrangedintowords.blogspot.com/2010/04/parkers-birthday-was-on-april-13th-i.html

It was a big hit! What a wonderful idea! Thanks so much!

Danelle said...

I found a picture of this on some random website and loved it! I found my way here and then decided that I was going to make my own caterpillar cake for my youngest nephew's first birthday. Thanks for the inspiration!

Stephanie said...

That's super creative & cute! I love literary-themed cakes. :)

stephanie@metropolitanmama.net

Nina Crittenden said...

Could this be any cuter? I don't think so!
Totally adorable!!! You now have a brand-new fan in Minnesota!!! :)

Laura said...

Thank you thank you! Although mine did not look nearly as perfect and adorable as yours, I tried to recreate it for my son's 5th birthday.
It was great fun.

Laura, an american expat in Ludwigsburg, Germany

Ailbhe said...

I also copied your idea, here in Reading, England; http://ailbhe.livejournal.com/808792.html

And she wants it again tomorrow, for her fourth birthday. Icing is difficult with a colicky 3-week-old on one shoulder!

Coco Cake Land said...

Thanks Marina!

HN Gordon, awesome job!! Thanks for sharing it with me!

Danelle-- thanks for stopping by! Hope it turned out awesome!

Thanks Stephanie!

Hi Nina! Nice to meet you, Minnesotian! :)

Hi Laura -- thank you for your comment, I am sure it turned out beautifully!

Aibhe, you did a great job! :)

kcamador said...

Wow! I don't know you but seeing such beautiful creations makes me want to know the person behind it. Amazing job!

Samantha said...

Really lovely cupcakes. I have added a link to one of my pages and put one of your photos on it. I hope this is OK. If not, please let me know. Beautiful and so incredibly creative!

Confectionary Bliss said...

This is such a great cake. One of my clients saw your pictures and asked if I could recreate something like it for her daughter's first birthday, and everyone absolutely loved it. Thanks for the wonderful idea and the suggestion about blending the buttercream colors for the swirl effect!

La said...

I love this! It is so delicious looking and very very cute.
I have a hungry caterpillar tattoo and I just love anything to do with the little guy. So this made my day :)

La

Unknown said...

I did a search of a hungry caterpillar cake for my son's 1st birthday party, to get some inspiration! I like this idea very much. As you are not in Sweden, I will have to try and do this myself! If you have any tips and ideas to make things easy! please email!

Yudith said...

I wanted to try to do this theme for my daughter's 1st birthday party coming up in July - and came to find your site! Thanks for such a gorgeous inspiration; I will report back on how it turns out :) By the way, any tips on getting the 2 color frosting on the cupcakes??

Beth said...

These are amazing! I have two questions: first, when you did the two tone frosting did you make the combo leaf green/lemon yellow frosting and combine it with more leaf green frosting or did you stripe the piping bag with the leaf green gel? Second, do you have any tips on getting vivid colors for your buttercream? I usually swiss meringue buttercream and gel coloring but often my colors are a little more pale than I want them to be. Thanks!

Coco Cake Land said...

thank you all!

all questions can be sent to lyndsay@cococake.com!

THX!

easy going room mate said...

Cupcake Cake catrepilla looks good, I think you'll be good to make a slurry and the cover, just good advice to buy land is not as expensive, and if you try to get everthing done the last thing you need is to try to build as well, make some cookies for the practice of the family do if you do not want to give away the secret between them of another color, it will all come good luck with it

Laney @ Crash Test Mummy said...

Hi Lyndsay. I love your caterpillar and I love Vancouver. Unfortunately I live in Australia so I had a go and making this myself and posted about it on my blog. Thanks for the inspiration!
Laney

Amie said...

i fell in love with your cupcakes so much i just had to make them for my 18th!! yes, i know, i have style. amongst the mass of alcohol and drunken teens was fairy bread and a gloriously colorful creation inspired by you <3 didn't quite turn out as well as yours, but i loved it anyway. i used marzipan instead of fondant though, purely because i haven't used fondant before and didn't have time to experiment. check it out :)
http://we-are-watching-ya.blogspot.com/2011/08/sidenote-i-turned-18.html

AikoVenus said...

I've seen these so many times before and always wondered where they came from - these are amazing! ^^ I love how cute all of your cakes are.

Sheridan said...

Another comment almost seems redundant here, but I just had to say this cakes is WONDERFUL!! So beautiful, as are all your cakes. It's very inspiring. I'm in the land of Oz so cannot place an order for one of your cakes (maybe you should consider moving here! hahaha) so I shall have to muddle along and have a go at replicating it myself.

Steven said...

Omg I love your cupcakes! The caterpiller is just so cute! I love the colors!

Unknown said...

I love this catepillar cake! It's soooo cute! My son and I read that book all the time. I would love to make that cake for one of his birthdays.

Anonymous said...

This fantastic post is shared on www.facebook.com/theworldofericcarle

Anonymous said...

Very cute! It's great because you can easily alter the size of the caterpillar to accommodate the number of guest you have. Funtique Parties can also be a lot of help if you're planning a birthday party.

Jo Christie-Smith said...

Hello,

Thank you so much for putting this online! I made this cake for my little boy's 1st birthday the weekend before last and we all loved it!

Thank you!

Jo

Jo Christie-Smith said...

Hello,

Thank you so much for posting these photos - I made this for my little boy's 1st birthday the weekend before last and we all loved it!

Thank you!

Jo

Gabby said...

I love this cake! We made it for my son's first birthday (minus the fondant) and it came out so cute! Of course it wasn't as awesome as yours, but I really appreciated this great inspiration for his cake. I have a child with nut allergies, so I have to make all of my children's cakes. It was nice to have a fairly simple one this time. I'm blogging about it and will definitely link to your site as my "inspiration."

Coco Cake Land said...

thank you so much everyone! so glad it's been a success for so many cute birthday parties. ^__^

dapur bagus said...

Very beautiful cupcakes, love it !

shirlz said...

Thanks so much for posting this along with all the tips. We made this for our sons first & had a great deal of fun too in the process!