Booyakasha! A TMNT Birthday!

I remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) back when I was growing up in the 80's.  And again in the 90's when my younger sister was into them.  It's interesting to see how their popularity has spanned multiple generations now that my kids are really into them.  Back then, the turtles said "cowabunga, dudes!"  The more hip, modern turtles that my kids now know say, "booyakasha!" Anyways...

Big L's good buddy, "R", was celebrating his birthday TMNT style, so I had the opportunity to make some Raphael cupcakes and a pizza cake.

R's favorite turtle, Raph

For the cupcakes, I debated what kind of turtle face to use.  The old school turtles look friendlier, kinda goofier, but the ones on TV now have an edgier, fiercer look and I figured that is what the kids know now so that's what I made.

Since having learned about modeling chocolate, it's become a favorite medium of mine.  It cuts easily and holds its shape well.  So for the cake and cupcakes I just had to make modeling chocolate in black, red, dark green and white.

While R's mom and I were discussing what type of cake to make, we came up with the idea of a pizza since everyone who knows TMNT knows it's the turtles favorite food. She even got me a pizza box from the local pizzeria to make it look more authentic. 

How I Did It:
Cake: I baked a 12" cake and cut a circle 1" from the edge and about 1/2" down into the cake using a serrated knife. Then I cut out a thin layer from the top to form the "crust".
Pizza sauce: I colored white frosting with red and brown coloring gel.
Cheese: I sprinkled grated white chocolate over the red frosting.  I tried using a torch to melt the chocolate but it was browning it too much so I put the cake under a broiler for a few minutes.  If I were to do it again, I would probably melt the white chocolate and just pour it over the cake because the frosting melted a little into the cake and I would have preferred a smoother texture from the white chocolate.
Pepperoni: I cut circles from red modeling chocolate.  To give it a greasy appearance I rubbed it with shortening, but I did it two days in advance and it ended up leaving white patches.  So the morning of the party I quickly rolled out some more modeling chocolate and remade the pepperoni without the shortening.
Green peppers:  I cut a circle from green modeling chocolate and then used a circle cutter one size smaller to cut out the center.  Then I pinched in the sides to make pepper slices.
Olives:  I cut a circle from black modeling chocolate using a small circle cutter and then the large tip of a piping tip to cut out the inside. 

Big L said to add jelly beans because that's a favorite topping of the turtles but I just stuck to these familiar toppings.

All in all, the cake and cupcakes were huge hit and more importantly, Big L's buddy and his mom were so happy with it that it made me really glad that I could do this for them.