The bottom two layers of the homemade farmy first birthday cake were red velvet with cream cheese filling. This was the first stacked cake I have ever done, so needless to say I was nervous. But I thought really hard about how I was going to get everything done before I started, which helped a lot.
Since I made the top of the cake (the barn) out of foam (the two layers of cake was already going to feed about 50, so I didn't need MORE cake!), I was able to work on it several weeks in advance. I covered the whole thing in red and then placed strips of black on top to form the roof. I then wet the strips and covered them in poppy seeds to give a shingled effect.
I was also able to make all of the animals ahead of time,so when I was ready I could just place them all on. The actual cake layers I worked on the week of the party. My husband had to help me put the fondant on the bottom tier since it was too large for me to cover on my own. It actually came together really quickly.
After the two bottom tiers were covered, it was maybe 5 hours to assemble and finish all the details. The back of the homemade farmy first birthday cake has a cow and a banner hanging on the barn that says "Happy Birthday." Also there is a duck on the side swimming in a pond.
I crushed some blue jolly ranchers and put them in the oven at 350* for a couple of minutes to make a sugar pond. I also made a separate smash cake with a fondant pig rolling in mud (chocolate icing on yellow cake). Diva loved it and so did everyone else!
