My dear son is turning 3 next month and I am also having a baby in a few weeks. So I have decided to make the characters for his cake early so I wont be stressed after the new arrival. I have decided to do some characters from a couple of his favorite shows, all the characters from yo gabba gabb, nemo and dory from finding nemo, moose and zee from noggin, dora and diego, the characters from Ni hao Kailan and blue from blues clues. I KNOW ALOT!!! Can I get some opinions on how I should construct this cake so that it doesnt look thrown together and the characters stand out equally? It will probably be a two tiered cake with a large bottom cake board so there is plenty of room to put the characters. Also what should I do with the actual cake, just one sold color maybe? I was thinking of doing a neighborhood background out of fondant on the cake and grouping the characters in front of the different "houses". Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

ummm....anyone???....someone???

Probably no one wants to tell you it's going to be a lot of work for someone expecting a baby in a few weeks. I could be wrong. However, I'll address it as if it were an actual order.

How big are you planning on making the characters? The smaller, the greater detail, the greater the work. What size are the tiers? Do you have at least a 3 to 4 inch difference between tier sizes, to give you 1 &1/2 to 2 inch space to work with for the characters?

That would be one freakin spectacular cake if you do it without looking "thrown together", which it has the potential to look, very easily. If the detail on the characters are absolutely amazing and breathtaking, I'd keep the scenery to a minimum. If they are average, or just enough "to look good", I would consider going a little heavier on the backgrounds.

I dunno. If this were really a request from a client, this would be some serious work, with work beginning at least a month ahead, to get the characters fine tuned.

Good luck!

I think all the characters need to be focusing on the same thing or doing the same type of thing, so it doesn't look like a mishmash of characters standing/sitting on the same cake. The neighborhood idea could work. They could also be in a "parade" of some sort in honor of your son.

On another note, if you don't feel up to making all the figures, could you purchase small figurines of each character from the store to go on the cake? Then they would look beautiful on the cake and your son will be thrilled to have them to play with afterwards.

Maybe they could all be at a birthday party and have party hats on or gifts or something to tie it all together?? Outdoors with a little pond so Nemo and Dory could be sticking out of the water?? I cannot believe you are taking on such a big task so close to having another little one! Hope all goes well for you!

is it enough characters that each could be holding a different letter such that together they spell out happy birthday and maybe even your son's name?

For some reason, I can't get this cake out of my mind:
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2009/05/when-world-is-not-enough.html

I'm just of the opinion that there is beauty in simplicity, but then again this is a kid's cake. If I had gotten an order like this, I would suggest the birthday party theme. It's a good way to string everyone together with one concept rather than just mashing them all on.

I think the idea of them all being at a bday party is great! There is also the option'of making the characters "look like" they are decorating the cake, that way it it could have that fun messy "I helped decorate" look to it, and what 3 yr old wouldn't love his favotrite characters decorating his cake?

I like the party idea too but if you don't fancy that how about having the characters sliding down a chute/slide that spirals round and down the cake that may help with space issues and as the characters would be sitting would save the bother of trying to get the proportions correct for getting them to stand. A few weeks ago i made a character cake for DS 5th birthday. He wanted Mario and several other characters standing on a plain blue cake, he wanted nothing but the characters on the blue which i found quite strange but if you have a look at my pic it may give you an idea of the solid colour and character look.
Good luck with the cake and the new arrival

Oh i've been nosing around and came across this cake http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1430242.html (hope it's ok to use the link ) this was kinda what i was thinking of but obviously with your characters.
HTH

This is only two different stories, but I thought it was really cute and clear way to showcase them. It was done by dods.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1160562

wow, thanks so much guys! I LOVE the open story book idea and the birthday party idea where they are all wearing party hats! Now I have so many ideas that its going to be hard to choose one. I have already started on the characters...because Im now on maternity leave and everything is ready for my new arrival I have plenty of time on my hands to work on the characters and get them right. (Also my sons birthday isnt until the end of september) so plenty of time to work on the characters, which will be the most time and effort. Even having them coming down a slide with party hats on...and the parades a good idea too!!! thanks so much again...any more ideas are welcomed!!!

Be sure you post the pic here after you finish

OK - I totally get where you are coming from. I did a HUGE topsy-turvey cake in midnight blue as the solar system for my son's third.

Kids love color. Kids love the characters. Your son will love this even if it is not perfect. Do as much as you can, but you don't have to nail it. Kids fill in so much with their imagination. They'll get all of the characters.

My idea would be to make a single layer round for each set of characters to keep them with their group. Then plan on terracing the cakes. You may need a 1/4 sheet or more to have a place to build up on, but it shouldn't be difficult. If there is a house or background you need (ie. blue's chair or house), consider baking sugar cookies and decorating them to place behind the characters on the cake. These can be done ahead as well.

So, you could do a four-leaf clover shape with an elevated center area or go more organic and free-form. Go MOM!