"Angry Birds" Cake

 
Yeah...we're pretty big "Angry Birds" fans around here. The "fever" became even hotter when we got the kids Angry Birds: Knock On Wood Game and Angry Birds plushes for Christmas.  Now we can't seem to get enough of them.

(I've become quite the master builder and they the master "knock-er-down-ers)

So it didn't surprise me too much when Little Red picked an "Angry Birds" cake for his birthday a few days ago.  

We googled and pinterested (Yep.  I make up my own words) and didn't come up with anything this cake decorating rookie thought she could manage.  Everything was made with fondant (including the characters), which I DO NOT do (I can barely handle store bought tub frosting), so I had to come  up with something else.  I packed all 4 of my XY's into the car and headed to Winco with this particular card (which Little Red picked out from the game) as inspiration.

Shopping for ingredients becomes a difficult task when you have a child with nut allergies (birthday boy) so we had to get creative.  The original plan was to use Little Debbie Nutty Bars (which I would still recommend using if you can) but turns out they are manufactured in a plant with tree nuts (he's deathly allergic to cashews) so we had to strike that plan and find another solution. We settled for these instead:

Now...for the birds/pigs.....  

We scoured the bulk section and decided on these:

It took a bit of time, manipulation, and a tooth pick, but I was really satisfied with the results.

The pigs

black and red bird

yellow birds

pigs:  green Tootsie pop, Tootsie rolls
black/red birds:  Tootsie pops, Tootsie rolls, sprinkles (for eyes)
yellow birds: dots in center (to form Tootsie roll around), Tootsie rolls and sprinkles (for eyes)

Now for the cake:

I used a regular 9 x 13 sized cake (you could definitely go bigger) and frosted and textured it, with the back of a frosting knife.  You could also try coloring coconut and sprinkling it on top (I didn't because my kids don't like it). 

Add some regular ol' kabob skewers to stabilize the structure (if using Nutty Bars you may not need these...just a bit of frosting to hold it together)...

 even from the back

and WALLAH!

  ANGRY BIRD CAKE!

Now....I have to say that I would STILL recommend using the Nutty Bars if you can.

Cream filled cake pieces were just not as stable (even with the skewers) as I would have liked them to be.

After falling over three times, from the sheer weight of the structure, 

we decided to let it rest.

 The kids thought that was pretty cool too.

("Just like in the game")

Whew...thank goodness.

The best part about it...

the entire thing was edible (unlike nasty fondant).

The birds/pigs were the kids favorite part.

and when they're happy....I'm happy.

It was a really fun project/cake.  I wouldn't hesitate doing it again.

So what do you think?  Any ideas on what I could have done to make it more stable?  I'd love some feedback!