Backyardigans

 Here's my newest creation!

It's called a "Frozen Buttercream Transfer."
So far, it's the coolest thing I've done!

I started with a photo of the Backyardigans covered with wax paper and taped to a flat cutting board. I did black and white because I didn't want to waste colored ink, but I left the computer on with the image next to me so I could compare colors.

Starting with home-made buttercream frosting, I mixed all the colors of the characters and their clothes. Some colors were left to make at the end - such as dark blue, which I made using the leftover light blue. Starting with white and black, I used a #2 tip to make the eyes of each character. Next, with light blue, I used the same tip to fill in Austin's shirt. Once all areas with light blue were covered, I darkened it to color Pablo. 

From there I worked on each character progressing by which color was the lightest so I could use the leftover for another color - such as yellow turning into orange, etc. 

Here's the nearly finished product before filling in the background with white and wrote the birthday girl's name (backwards, unfortunately!). Once filled in with white, I used a baker's spatula to smear and press down the image so all air pockets would be filled. Last, I put the image in the freezer on the cutting board for a couple hours.

This is the final product before being pulled away from the wax paper. I'm totally impressed by how much the characters look real! This is such a great way to make a cake when character pans aren't available and you're not the best artist.

Here's the completed cake!

I added swirls on the top edges and a solid line along the bottom.

Here's the cupcakes to go with the cake. 

Made with help of J (The 4 year old I take care of!)

Credit goes to...
http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/how-to-create-a-frozen-buttercream-transfer