My grandson Hunter is turning 5. His birthday cake design began swirling in my head months ago. The actual cake creation usually takes me 2 days – 1 day to bake the layers (refrigerate, or freeze), and 1 day to assemble and decorate.

As most kids his age, he is intrigued with some cartoon characters – Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi. I started with the color palette, which would be blue, red, green and yellow. I purchased the perfect toy characters online – which he will love to play with when the cake is gone!

This cake started with 3 – 8″ vanilla layers, which I filled with vanilla mascarpone whipped filling. This keeps the cake “light” while the top is coated in frosting. For some additional “fun”, I colored the filling blue to match the frosting. A smooth layer of blue cream cheese buttercream was added, then sprinkles around the bottom.

Next came a white chocolate “drip” over the top, and the figurines were pressed into the frosting. I finished this with some additional buttercream frosting swirls, sprinkles, and of course – candles! Happy Birthday Hunter!