If you’re unfamiliar with Animal Crossing New Horizons, let me enlighten you. It’s constantly one of Nintendo Switch’s most popular video games, having been around for over 15 years on predecessor consoles like N64, Gamecube, Wii and even a mobile app version. My Animal Crossing birthday cake was not all that hard to make and was a fun first-time fondant experience.
Given the pandemic, Animal Crossing has been a fun and safe way to stay connected with loved ones from afar. And in our case, made a great birthday party theme for our small gathering. I must warn you, my cake is by no means flawless, but it more than worked!
Animal Crossing Birthday Cake Supplies
Aside from the classic boxed cake mix, there’s a few possibly new-to-you supplies you’ll find beneficial when creating this Animal Crossing Birthday Cake.
- Box cake mix, dealer’s choice (I went with this one)
- Main green fondant color
- Light green fondant*
- Medium green fondant*
- 8″ round cake pan
- 6″ round cake pan
- Beginner fondant tool kit
- Cream cheese frosting
- Green food dye (I love these gel ones)
- Flour (approximately 2-3 cups)
*found at Michael’s, but cannot find online
Homemade Fondant Cake Work Station
My giant Ikea cutting board really came in handy because a large work space is key for fondant. You’ll want a non-stick surface you can flour to keep the fondant from sticking.
SHOP TREAT CARRIER | SHOP SIMILAR CUTTING BOARDS
How to Work With Fondant
I was warned by many that fondant can be difficult, but it’s definitely not as scary as I thought. I’m also self aware that I’m not a professional baker or cake decorator, so I’m more than okay with how it came out knowing I’m a first-timer.
First, roll out your main color in a big enough shape to cover the surface area you need. In this case, it’s the 8″ round pan that will be the bottom of my two tiered fondant cake.
Pro Tip: I’ve found the fondant is easier to roll and manipulate if you warm it up in your hands first.
When rolling and shaping, keep in mind that the fondant doesn’t need to be the exact shape of your cake. In fact, it should be larger and some unkempt edges are okay. For me, I tucked the extra fondant underneath or trimmed where it made sense. Larger versus smaller is the way to go, adding extra fondant will be an eye sore.
Decorating an Animal Crossing Birthday Cake
Next, for this particular cake, I had small triangles to cut out in different green fondant to make up the grass seen in the video game.
That’s where the fondant tools came in SUPER handy. This mini knife has a smooth blade so your triangles don’t have any serrated edges and look perfectly smooth.
Once they were all cut I started to apply them to the large piece intended to cover the bottom tier of my cake. The good news is that you don’t need to cover the entire top of the bottom piece since the top tier will cover some of it. As you can see below, there’s a good amount of work saved by not covering the middle.
Next, repeat the exact same process with the top tier, but be sure to start placing your triangles in the middle and work your way out. This way you don’t end up with an awkward space in the middle on accident.
Fondant Cake Pro Tips
I’m using the word ‘pro’ lightly. Here’s what I learned and would share with other first-timers.
Pro Tip #1: Finish the edges of your cake with frosting to avoid having raw or unfinished edges. It’s the easiest way I can imagine for an amateur to finish a fondant cake. For mine, I cut a small 1/4″ hole in the corner of a gallon baggie, then added a frosting tip (always do this BEFORE adding the frosting), then added white frosting and green food dye for a DIY frosting bag. These frosting tips are easy to use; for this exact look use the 4B tip (second from the top).
Pro Tip #2: When my cake was done, it looked a little ‘dirty’ meaning it was covered in flour and didn’t look nearly as bright as the colors really were. To rectify, I took a small spray bottle and gently misted the cake. While wet I patted the cake lightly where needed and it dried back to the bright green color. If you look at the above photo you can definitely see I took that picture while it was still a bit damp!
Pro Tip #3: Use cake decorations to hide folds. The fondant doesn’t cover every shape cake perfectly, so you may end up with some folds. I’m sure there’s a professional way to smooth, flatten or completely get rid of those, but I was on a schedule, so I opted to simply hide them. These animal crossing cupcake picks were perfect for our cake and when strategically placed, hid all of our fondant sins!
Animal Crossing Party Decorations
Thinking of hosting your own Animal Crossing Birthday Party? This all-in-one decoration package was a serious deal. My mom found it and we not only used the decor pictured below, but the toothpicks in the cake are also included!
Sadly the trees, twigs and wasp nest are not part of the package. My aunt made these all herself, so impressive, right? If you have the time, I highly recommend having someone on your party planning committee make some homemade goodies. They were a huge hit at our gathering!
A last minute call, I printed these place setting cards out for each attendee with their favorite character on them. I call Apple “Cheekers” because it’s her cute little catchphrase and I adore it.
If you look closely, in the background you can also see tissue boxes wrapped in white paper and tied with red ribbons. They have balloons tied to them to simulate the floating presents in the game!
If you want to get really fancy, we also painted rocks to look like the fossils and hid them, making the birthday girl find them. It was a pretty funny addition to the day!
Animal Crossing New Horizons Gift Ideas
Are you throwing or attending an Animal Crossing Birthday party? I have some adorable on-theme gift ideas for you!
- Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing Case (this is the one I have and love it!)
- Physical Copy of the Animal Crossing New Horizons Game
- Wireless Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch Controller
- Animal Crossing Traveler GoPlay Action Pack
- 12 Month Nintendo Switch Online Membership
What do you think of my Animal Crossing Birthday Cake? And the accompanying decor? We were so pleased with how everything turned out! I’d love to hear your reactions, thoughts or even suggestions for how to take it to the next level in the comments!
More Desserts and Entertainment
- Grandma’s Gooey Brownie Recipe
- Rumchata Cake Pops
- No-Bake Fourth of July Cake Poppers
- Why Parks & Rec Will Change Your Life
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