While the boys took in a Falcons game on Sunday, I got busy constructing Chandler's birthday cake.
I had messaged a friend, Shantel of Heavenly Cakes, back home in Augusta to see if the layers would hold up if I made them in advance.. after she told me the best way to preserve them, I had the courage to take the pre-made layers with me to the hotel, along with an entire arsenal of cake decorating supplies.
I made the icing in the Ice Bucket (don't worry, I washed it thoroughly first) and mixed individual colors in the water glasses. The room's desk served as an excellent work space, though I'm not sure the hotel staff would've been thrilled to see it covered in powdered sugar.
After I assembled the layers and frosted them with a thin blue coat of icing, I rolled out fondant that I had colored blue a day or two earlier (to give it time to dry) to cover the ball shaped cake, then on fondant "continents" with icing... I had previously traced, cut out and painted them with gel color, also a day or so early, in respect of drying time...
I gave everything a final gel coloring coat and used white icing to pipe on a message. I added the toppers that would fit under the cake dome, while readying the ones too tall for just before the cake was served.
I covered the cake dome in wrapping paper so as to veil the cake in the event that Chandler saw it- though we told him all along a homemade cake wasn't possible while on the road...
Everything went more smoothly than I figured it would and Chandler was genuinely surprised not only to have a cake, but that the cake was all the things we have been talking about recently:
Travel, Maps, Food Network, favorite travel shows etc.
On the cake was a red convertible ( tipping a hat to both "Road Tasted" and Guy Fieri's Diners show) In the convertible was Paula Deen- Chan's local favorite- the Neelys, the Road Tasted couple that he had gotten tickets to see on Friday, Jeff Corwin-(the Jeff Corwin Experience) one of his favorite travel show hosts and Dave Stotts (Drive Thru History) another favorite host and Alton Brown...food scientist.
We called the cake the "BoomDeYada Birthday cake, because that song- our homeschool theme song- fits Chandler's love for exploring the world around him to a tee.