Mockingjay Cake

I needed a quick, last minute cake for my 13-year old niece's birthday. It was a toss-up between a Harry Potter cake or a Hunger Games themed cake. After googling various images for cake ideas, I found one that seemed easy enough for me to pull off and that I knew would be still be a big hit. To save time, I used store-bought chocolate fudge frosting and melted it in the microwave until it was pouring consistency. This resulted in a smooth, shiny cake. For the Mockingjay symbol, I printed out an image of one to trace over. I taped the image to a cookie sheet and covered it with wax paper. I used melted yellow candy melts to trace over the Mockingjay, then placed it in the freezer to harden. The candy Mockingjay peeled right off the wax paper easily. Finally, I chose to paint over the Mockingjay with some edible gold shimmer before placing on the cake. Small dowels inserted in the cake at an angle helped prop up the Mockingjay, like a picture frame. For the flames, I colored one half of a piping bad with red-orange and the other yellow. The cake was done in a flash and was a huge hit!