Uncle Gino is a big fan.

So I have this Uncle Gino...well he really isn't my uncle but my boyfriend's uncle. My boyfriend and his uncle have a very interesting and beautiful relationship.  The best part is watching them when they are watching Napoli or the Italian National soccer team play.  I've never seen anything like it!  They scream and yell for about good 90 minutes give a or take a minute for injury time. Its friggin' scary and hilarious at the same time!

I knew that for Uncle Gino's birthday I had to give him something extra special.

THE MARADONA CAKE

Price: $75

Pound cake with cannoli (or how he likes to say it "ganol") cream filling.
Fondant soccer shirt with fondant accents.
Buttercream grass.

To understand how important Maradona is to uncle Gino you have step back to the era of Maradona.  It was 1984 when Maradona was transferred to Napoli and the following years were one of the best years Napoli had ever had.  Maradona was a saint in the eyes of the Neapolitans and fans alike. 

Take a look at the kind of spectacular goals Maradona made:

I've digressed...back to the cake.

Making the cake was quite easy.  The most challenging part was getting the right shade of blue. Oh gosh, if I didn't get that blue right..."Oh marone!"

I piped the buttercream using the same technique that I used for the "bird in a bush" cupcake.  Once everything was set up, I used letters cutters to make the "happy birthday" message.

Two Lessons Learned: 1.Air bubbles in your fondant are no good
               2.Steam before you buttercream.

• If you are not careful applying your fondant, you can create air bubbles.  If you look closely at the cake you will see an air bubble on the left hand corner. I either made the mistake of not using my fondant smoother when I applied the fondant on the cake or I didn't pin prick the fondant when I rolled it out.  Sometimes you develop bubbles while your rolling out fondant.  To get rid of the bubble, get a straight pin, prick the bubble and continue rolling the fondant. This will certainly make the bubble disappear.
•  Steaming fondant cakes is a technique that cake decorators use all the time.  Steaming the cake makes the cake quite shiny and helps to get rid of all the extra powdered sugar left on the cake from when you roll it out. Unfortunately, I steamed the cake after I added the buttercream. Argghhh!  Buttercream melts when the steam hits it. Luckily, I was able to fix the cake and no real damage was done. :o)

Thank you again for reading.

Forza Azzurri!!!!!