Cup o' Cocoa Cake

When my friend, Kathia of Pink Little Cake and Melissa of The Baked Equation, invited me to participate in a cake challenge that they were hosting, I was excited, but a little nervous.  They are a pair of cake aficionados and I am certainly not in their league! Still, I decided it would be fun to step up to the challenge:)

I looked around for inspiration, and knew I had found it when I came upon a cute, mini mug of cocoa~ marshmallow pop (post coming soon)! This cake is on the other end of the spectrum...a large cup of cocoa~ cake! 

It is made up of three, 5-inch layers of chocolate cake, so it is a relatively small cake.  I had meant to cover the whole cake with fondant, but chickened out changed to buttercream instead.

The three layers were iced with chocolate buttercream, and then I covered the entire cake with white buttercream.

I recessed a round portion of the top by placing a round cookie cutter on top and imprinting. The white buttercream was removed from that area and replaced with chocolate buttercream.
The candy cane is made of homemade marshmallow fondant (my first attempt!), which I was happy with.  I made two small ropes, mixed one portion well with red food coloring, and then twisted and shaped them together to form a candy cane.  It was pressed firmly into the cake.
I did not have the same luck with the mug handle (didn't have enough time for it to firm up and hold its shape), so ended up cutting a piece out of a mega marshmallow and pushing it into the side of the cake.
Lastly, I topped the "cocoa" with cut-up regular size marshmallows.

Oops, after visiting the other blogs, I see that I must have missed the "Fall" part of this challenge?!? Just pretend that the candy cane is a crimson leaf:)

I'm ready for hot chocolate season, are you?

I definitely consider myself a novice when it comes to cake decorating, so was honored to be included in this challenge which features such talented cake artists:)

Thanks so much, Kathia and Melissa!

To see what I mean about cake talent, be sure to visit all of these fabulous blogs!

1-Cup of hot cocoa cake-Munchkin Munchies

2-Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese frosting-D & P Celebrations

3-Caramel Apple Cake-The Baked Equation

4-Maple Leaf Chocolate Cake-Butter Yum

5-Boo Shoe SugarTopper-Trilogy Edibles

6-Goodbye Fall-Pink Little Cake

7-Turning Leaves-Simply Sweet by Honeybee

8-Fall Teddy Bears-Karma's Cakes

9-Thanksgiving Head Dress-Sweetology

10-Fall Flower Pot Cupcakes-Butter Hearts Sugar

11-End of Fall Cupcakes-Not your momma's Cookie

12-Thanksgiving in a Cupcake-Savor the Baking

13-Turkey Cake-The Baking Sheet

14-Picking Leaves-Sweet Things 

Linked to:
Inspiration Friday 
I'm Lovin' it Party
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday  
Weekend Wrap Up Party