I am still a newbie, but get a little better each time. I found a picture of a cake that I want to do for my daughter's 5th birthday, but can't find any instructions anywhere. Any tips/pointers would be greatly appreciated.

AHopefully your daughters b/day hasn't passed, if so, how did the cake turn out? If not, what are you specifically needing assistance with?

Right off hand I can see that you'll need fondant. For the top either carve a cake into that shape or mold Rice Krispie treats. The reddish blush around sponge bob cheeks appear to be luster dust. Have you ever worked with fondant?

Also you'll want to use some wooden or plastic dowels to support the bottom tiers or you can use bubble or bobo tea straws I think that's the name of the straws. But they're wide straws that can be use for thick milk shakes which could also be called milk shake straws. I forgot to mention that you need to use buttercream or chocolate ganache over tour tiers in order to get the fondant to stick.

AHello! That's a cute cake!

I agree with the poster above, Patrick is either a carved cake or molded rice krispies treats (RKT). Since you said that you're a newbie, i would go with the RKT route. It's a bit difficult to carve a cake to that height, shape and size and cover with fondant. You could end up with a crumbly mess..

You need to make/buy fondant and color them ahead of time. You need a lot because the details of the characters are also made out of fondant.

Good luck! :)

Patrick looks like that Wonder mold to me - the one you use when you make a Barbie doll cake.  I don't like having so many different specialty pans but that doll pan has been used by me for many things that aren't a doll cake!  Of course, RKT is lighter and kids and adults love eating it so either way's good!  I'd def making Spongebob's nose out of RKT and use a dowel/fat straw to hold it in place. 

Good luck!

Theresa