A Mario Cake for My Son's Birthday

It’s been quite a journey since my son first asked for an elephant cake for his 4th birthday.

This year, for his sixth birthday, he asked for a Mario cake. As in Super Mario, the Nintendo-owned plumber protagonist.

I’m no cake boss, so I’m able to make anything super complex. After a bit of searching on the Internet, a found this guide on how to make a Super Mario cake.

My cake didn’t end up looking as good. Compare the cake from the above link (go ahead, click on it, then come back) to my final result:

The biggest difference is I just used regular icing - Pillsbury white icing died red for the hat and Pillsbury buttercream icing for the off-white skin tone - instead of some sort of fancy “marshmallow fondant.”

I did try to make a small batch of marshmallow fondant, but it didn’t turn out. Probably because the marshmallows were a bit stale, and I used regular, granulated sugar rather than powdered sugar.

My wife was out bowling with her moms group while I was making it, so I texted her updates on the process. I’m not going to share the texts themselves, but here’s the progress pics I made:

So, yeah, I think the cake looks a bit off. Mario’s nose is quite the honker, his eyes are a bit wonkey, and I can’t quite tell if his mustache looks more like his smile. But, hey, my kid liked it. That’s what counts, right?