skylander giant cake :: cake decorating

i haven't shared a cake decorating post in a while.  for "the monster's" birthday dinner dessert, i made a simple double layer swirl cake then tried my best to decorate as the portal of power from the skylander giants video game (which is my son's current obsession).  it's actually a neat concept... players can collect action figures and then place them on the portal to enter them into the video game.  for a seven-year-old, this is the perfect combo because he actually plays with the action figures outside of the game as well... kind of like how i did with barbies.

i purchased a set of skylanders to place on top of the portal cake, however, due to the electronics at the bottom of each, i could not let icing get inside.  to prevent this, i traced each onto a thick paper and then cut out the shape.  it was easy to tape the paper to the bottom of the figures and then remove when he was ready to play!

for a little more decor, i placed the instant photos i had taken that morning around the cake table for guests to look at.  overall, this may have been the easiest birthday celebration i've planned yet.  (did i mention "the monster" wanted pizza hut for dinner so i didn't even have to cook?!)