A Few of Her Favorite Things

A teacher friend of mine wanted a big cake for her birthday.  She wasn't really sure on the exact look, but she wanted a cake that incorporated all of her favorite things.  They all came together to make this bright and colorful creation!

Her favorite things:

Flip Flops

Sock Monkey

Her orange Volkswagen bus (yes, she has one of these!)

Sugar skull

and all things tropical!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Both tiers of the cake were white cake with vanilla buttercream filling.  The "sand" on the top tier is a mixture of brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs.  The top tier is also surrounded by Pirouette cookies.  The palm trees, sock monkey, and flip flops are all modeling chocolate.  The flowers are royal icing.   The VW bus is cut from Rice Krispie treats and covered in fondant.