Turtle Cake - it's not what you think

So, this past Wednesday was Keegan's birthday (he turned 5!), so we are celebrating this weekend.  Jason called Keegan and asked him what he wanted for his birthday.  His answer: "A land tortoise".  Uh huh.  Jason:  "What else do you want?" Keegan: "A stuffed bunny."  That's better!  Anyway, this got me thinking, perhaps I could make him a turtle cake, you know, with chocolate, caramel, nuts, etc.  What a funny play on words, huh?  Then, I remembered my audience.  5 year old.  Humor = lost.  Alright, let's regroup.  How about a cake shaped like a turtle or something?  I have no cake decorating skills to speak of at all, so this is going to be an adventure.  The all-powerful Google was consulted, and I found this!

Adorable, right?  It is made out of a dozen cupcakes, all frosted together to look like a turtle!  Now, this looks like something I might be able to pull off without a miraculous intervention by Betty Crocker herself.  So, tonight, I gave it a shot.  And I took pictures at all (or most) integral points of the process!

I started with a basic cake mix.  Whenever I make cake from a box, I always futz with it a little bit...I added coconut oil instead of butter, and I doubled the amount.  I added 4 eggs instead of 3, and I added milk instead of water.  Mix, pour into cupcake pan, bake, obligatory toothpick test, add 2 more minutes, remove from oven and cool.

Clearly, I am not very good at pouring cake batter into cupcake pans evenly.  Eh, life goes on.  Those can be quality control cakes, since I only need 12 and the mix made 18.  Fabulous.  Now, they cool.  

*jeopardy theme song*

While we wait for the cakes to cool completely, I have another funny and related story.  At supper this evening, we asked Keegan what he wanted to do for dinner tomorrow to celebrate his birthday.  He hems and haws, hmms and huffs...and comes up with...wait for it..."pancakes and mac & cheese".   Uh huh.  Ask a 5 year old to make a decision, and you must be ready for the consequences of that decision.  After we all shake our heads, Jason says "how about we have pancakes for dinner tomorrow, and then mac and cheese for lunch on Sunday?"  Keegan decided that was acceptable.  So, that's settled.  Pancakes for supper, followed by a cupcake for dessert.  Delightful. Calorie count: 1 bazillion, give or take.  Sidenote, the quality control cupcake passed with flying colors.

Ok, now for the frosting extravaganza!

I organized the cupcakes per the above picture (didn't take a pic of that step)

I frosted it and decorated it, with the help of Ethan playing goalie, making sure Keegan didn't venture upstairs (which he attempted to do twice during this project, the little rascal).  And this is the final result!  

Ta-Da!  Ok, I am the first to admit, it doesn't look much like the picture.  But, I think you can still tell it's supposed to be a turtle, right?  Right?  (It is entirely possible that this belongs in a "Pinterest - FAIL" blog, but I am just not going to admit it) I thought so.  Whew!  Project - Complete!  Now, to put it safely into the fridge and to present it tomorrow with the pancakes for dinner!

Thanks for reading!