Sponge Bob Square Cake ?!

OKAY ... my four year old, I mean five year old, is obsessed with Sponge Bob!  His birthday was this week and all he wanted was the $50.00 SPONGE BOB CAKE AT PUBLIX!  YIKES.  People, we are in a recession ... $50 doesn't come easy.  So, what to do to make the little man's dreams come true?! 

I decided to make one myself!  I can do it!  Sure.  With a little patience (a lot!), lots of icing, food coloring, and a coloring book, this is do-able. 

I started with this:

9 x 13 metal pan, spray bottom with canola spray

Bake your cake as directed on the box.  Let it cool for about 10 minutes, then flip it upside down on a big tray.  (Unless you are Martha Stewart or Betty Crocker, you probably won't have a cake stand enormous enough for this big rectangle!  I used a cute acrylic tray.)
 
While the cake is baking, start mixing your icing with food coloring.  This step was quite hilarious in that I had icing everywhere, including my hair, and I had a major sugar rush ... okay yes, I HAD to taste each color "just incase" it was bad.  Ha ha ha.   Hello 5 lbs.  Why do I even GO to the gym?!

The most difficult color to mix was brown for Sponge Bob's pants.  Of course I was not smart enough at the grocery store and did not buy chocolate icing.  Instead, I bought 2 jars of vanilla.  Duh?! Why?

SO my husband and I couldn't figure out how to make brown.  NO, you cannot mix all 4 colors in the food color box to make brown (red, blue, green, yellow).  That makes army green!  After many tries, we figured it out (Seriously?  We went to college, I promise!)  You mix RED and GREEN food coloring with white icing = light brown Sponge Bob pants!  Yeah. (Yes, that brown stuff is icing.) 

All of the colors are finally mixed.

This picture is my inspiration ....

I waited 10 minutes out of the oven, then flipped it over on this cute tray.  Make sure you use the bottom (now the top) for the top of your cake.  Makes a flat surface to ice. 

First is yellow everywhere except the very bottom.  I found that the longer my icing sat out on the counter, the thinner it became.  It was perfect for this step.  Later, when decorating the eyes and tie, etc. put your icing back in the fridge for about 10 minutes to harden a bit. 

Add a small thin white line for his shirt, and brown for the pants.

Eyeballs ... I put 3 big spoonfulls of white for each eye.  Then spread with the back of my spoon in a circle (lightly!).  If you notice the spoon ... it is small and from Sweden.  Sorry USA.  It is a little bigger than a baby spoon.  So make your adjustments accordingly. 

No ... I do not suddenly have "man hands!"  This is my hubby drawing the black lines.  He is a really great artist.  After I tried once, then had to remove my black line, then refrost yellow, I decided to ask for his help! 

We used a small tube of black "gel" icing.  Worked great!  Draw a nose, mouth, medium sized circles for the cheeks and eyelashes. 

Add some pink for a tounge.  I used the back of my spoon to spread the tounge.   A little pink for cheeks.  I used my fingers to swirl the cheeks.  I also added red in 2 small globs to make the tie.  Then spread it out with a butter knife. 

2 spoonfulls of blue on each white eye. I spoonfull of white for each tooth.  I used my finger and a butter knife to form a square tooth, once it was on the cake. 

Black circles with the black gel on top of each blue circle. 

So we are finished .... 1 hour later!  Whew!  Put it in the fridge quick.  We kept it in the fridge all night, the icing reset, and the next morning it was perfect. 

Charlie LOVED it!  He didn't even ask for the Publix $50.00 cake ... he said can I eat some for breakfast?  My answer?  OF COURSE!!!  It's YOUR birthday.  :)
Good luck making one for your little one.