This project is an oldie, but became relevant again this year with the re-invention of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the next generation. This cake was actually made for a 20-something (at the time) friend of mine, not a 5 year old. And it was super fun and easy to make.

When my friend requested a TMNT cake for his birthday I had to think long and hard about how I would create the character on the cake. I had seen TMNT cakes before that used frosting and it just didn’t give the characters that cartoon look that I wanted. So I came up with a brilliant solution – Fruit Roll Ups.

Yes, those fruit roll ups! The ones you would wrap around your fingers and gnaw on at lunch as a kid. It was pure genius.

It was pretty difficult to find all of the colors I needed to create Michaelangelo, the best ninja turtle if you ask any guy. So I thought I could use the three primary colors and layer them together to create whatever colors I needed.

The fruit roll ups were still pretty sticky, and I needed a way to trace the image onto them to cut out the correct shapes. To combat this, I rolled each piece out and sandwiched it between two pieces of waxed paper. Then I drew the outline for each shape onto the waxed paper with a Sharpie. To make them easy to cut, I threw them into the freezer – a solution to combat many food problems.

Once they were cold, they weren’t as sticky and I was able to cut out each shape using regular scissors.

Once the cake was made, built and iced, all I had to do was assemble the fruit roll up pieces into the character.

Once he was on the cake, I outlined the image in black gel frosting – in keeping with that cartoony look. I also added the Happy Birthday Colin into the TMNT logo with icing at the top. Voila!

The cake was super cute and the Birthday Boy was thrilled.

It was a little difficult to cut with the fruit roll ups on the cake as they dissolved a little into the frosting, but it still tasted great!

Colors Used:

Red

Blue

Yellow

Logo: Red

Body: Blue + Yellow

Stomach: Yellow

Bandages/Bandana: Red + Yellow

Mouth: Red