Fondant-Free Hobbit Hole Cake!

Ah, yes. The birthday cake for my beloved has been revealed-- it is a Lord of the Rings-inspired hobbit hole cake! I kind of had a choice between Minas Tirith and a hobbit hole, so I went for the hobbit hole! I am not that ambitious just yet, especially after seeing this! So I started with two 8" layers and two 6"
 layers of chocolate cake.

My beloved's favorite flavor combo is chocolate and peanut butter, so I made him some Wilton peanut butter buttercream from scratch.










The recipe is as follows


Peanut Butter Buttercream (makes 3 cups)

1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening 1/3 cup butter 3/4 cup peanut butter 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 cups (approx. 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar, sifted4-6 tablespoons milk
After placing my layered 8" rounds onto a corner on the board and cut a notch out of my 6" layers, so they could fit snugly. I saved the piece cut out from the notch and placed it between the 8" and 6" rounds to create a slope.

I slathered (oh, yes, I said "slathered") all of the cake in the peanut butter buttercream then set it in the fridge for about 20 minutes. I had also made a regular vanilla batch of buttercream for coloring purposes, so in the meantime, I mixed a LOT of green for the grass.

I spread a block of white on the "front" of the hobbit hole where the doors and windows will go.

I popped the cake back in the fridge for another 15 minutes or so. I covered the top and back of the hill in green with a grass tip (time-consuming!)...

I traced circles in the front for the door and windows.

I used different colors of icing for the flowers and rock detail.










Overall, my beloved LOVED it! I was excited!



On a sidenote: While I was researching the look of hobbit holes, I came across this. This is a real residence in Wales, and I am officially impressed and inspired.