Very Hungry Caterpillar

I am stealing SO many of your amazing ideas for my daughter's 2nd birthday! Where did you get the platters the cakes are on. They are perfect! Did you make them?

This cake is just on a cardboard cake board (from JoAnn's). I google imaged "Eric Carle art" and found the dots. I copied and pasted them to a word page, enlarged it and printed from my home computer. I think I ended up printing a total of 4 sheets. I taped the paper around the perimeter of the cake board then set the cake on top to decorate. There is just plain cardboard under the cake. I also put wax paper under the edges of the cake while I frosted it so that it wouldn't get the paper messy. It was super cheap and easy. The smash cake was on an actual Very Hungry Caterpillar plate that was purchased off the computer too.

How did you get the cake to come out of the pan so cleanly? Any special tricks? And is the cake just a bundt cake cut up and re-arranged?

I used a bundt pan that I sprayed with Pam. I popped it out and then I cut it into many pieces and arranged the caterpillar on wax paper first. I wanted to make sure it would fit on top of my sheet cake. It took quite a few tries to get it just right. Once I had it laid out the way I wanted it, I set it on top of my sheet cake piece by piece and I used frosting as the glue. Then I mixed several shades of green to get the Eric Carle watercolor effect. Hope this helps!

Heather I was wondering did you also use the bundt cake for the caterpillar's head? and what did you use for the antena's?

Megan C, I actually used a large cupcake pan for the head. You could just cut out a circle from a regular cake too. I sliced off one side to make it flush with the body. The antenna was made from fruit snacks that I smashed and pulled into the shape I wanted. Hope this helps.

what kind of icing did you use? I tried to make it tonight with a buttercream icing and I think it was too messy and melty. I think I am going to try the Wilton recipe which calls for shortening. Did you decorate the caterpillar on the white cake?

Morgan C, I used a version of the Wilton frosting. I did use shortening. And i frosted it right on top of the sheet cake. I used my spatula and started at the base of his body (where he touches the sheet cake) and used upward strokes.

Thanks for the super helpful info Heather. This is amazing and I'm going to try my hand it. We'll see how it goes. Thanks again - I'm inspired by your creativity :)

My pleasure Lori B! I hope it goes well for you! Good luck!

oh my gosh this is exactly what I am looking for to for my son's first birthday! Is your sheet cake just 1 - 9x13 cake?