This Llama Cake was made for my favorite Peruvian Princess' birthday! I was super honored that she would ask me to make her cake. She let me have free reign, simply stating she wanted something with her favorite animal, the noble llama.
In the end, I settled on a monster, single layer sheet cake - built out of two, 9x12 sheet cake - in the shape of a llama. My wonderful husband was kind enough to draw a stencil on the back of a 14x21 cardboard cake board. Cutting the shape out was probably the most frustrating part of this design!
Once it was cut out, I aligned the two sheets of cake side by side and used the stencil to carefully carve out the shape. Fret not about the discarded chunks of cake! Toss them into a big tupperware for later usage. I made them into some delicious cake balls that were a huge hit!
The entire cake was covered in my favorite swiss buttercream with a splash of coconut extract. It doesn't have to be perfect because it's going to be eventually slathered in untoasted, unsweetened coconut flakes.
Next, making the Llama Princess. This took some trial and error. In the end, I cut the shape of the girl drawing out of the overall stencil and then into separate pieces so they could easily be traced onto the correct color of fondant. For example, the legs, arms, neck, and face were all cut out of the tan fondant. I lost some detail on her face - it just didn't do justice to the cuteness of my husband's drawing! On the side, make the llama face, ears, and hooves out of fondant.
Gently place all the fondant pieces on the frosted cake.
Now you can slather everything in coconut and finishing touches. I threw in some buttercream flowers as a sash and collar for the llama but it's entirely optional.
Llama Cake
Yo's Ultimate Vanilla Cake
from How to Cake It
Made with two, single layer 9x12 cakes
Coconut Swiss Buttercream
from Smitten Kitchen
Make the "Wedding Cake" serving size. Add coconut to desired flavor.
Decorations
Sweetened Coconut Flakes
Wilton Fondant in a variety of colors
Buttercream flowers
