Talia's Swimming Pool Cake

Talia turned 5 last week and had a pool party, so naturally she wanted a swimming pool cake, and she specifically asked for one with a slide. I sent her some ideas from flickr and the favorite was this one made by the wonderfully talented Kelly O'Brien of Glass Slipper Gourmet.

411: vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream and raspberry buttercream filling (my new favorite flavor!) decorations made with gumpaste and fondant

9" and 8" cakes joined together, then I sliced a bit off the top of each top layer and cut out a smaller circle out of it to make the sides of the pool. Buttercream makes great glue!

Ready for chilling overnight (by this point it was 2am!)

I used a parchment template to help cut out the gumpaste for the water, making it much easier to fit it onto the cake.

Cake with water! I love the way the color isn't completely mixed in the gumpaste, so it looks a little more realistic.

The beach ball was a last-minute addition. I didn't have time for painted food coloring to dry, so I used powdered food coloring and petal dust for the colors.