A Charlie Brown Christmas

Can you believe Christmas is already next week?? Precisely 7 days from today! I guarantee this week will be filled with all the Christmas classics on television like Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, and one of my faves A Christmas Story. Another classic that has been around for decades is A Charlie Brown Christmas. This animated special reminds me of a cake that I created last year for a little boy's first birthday.

In honor of Charlie Brown (the original chevron wearer), Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts Gang, I share with you this cake (and cupcakes) that was inspired by Charles M. Schulz's timeless characters who will always help us remember what the real meaning of Christmas is.

There was no doubt in my mind that I needed to create Snoopy with Woodstock on top of his iconic dog house for this order. The house would be the perfect volume for a decent sized cake and a perfect focal point for the cake table.

Of course I could not ignore the rest of the Peanuts Gang. I remember as a child, I used to get the comic section of the Sunday newspaper, cut out my favorites, and staple them together to make little booklets for me to carry around. Did anyone else do this? 

Charlie Brown and the gang was definitely part of my childhood, and I felt the need to pay homage to the beloved comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. This also meant staying true to the 2-dimensional quality for this order. So for the cupcakes, I decided to make cupcake toppers of our favorite Peanuts characters.

With rolled out colored fondant, I recreated the faces of each of these characters using a food writer. Once their heads were cut out, I placed them onto a pick and left them to harden for a couple days. This way, they would be stiff enough to stand straight up onto the cupcake.

For the rest of the cupcakes, I created a custom cupcake pick that was personal to the birthday boy's celebration. Of course these too were inspired by the comic strip.

 Unfortunately, I was not able to be at the party to set up the cake display that day. But with the help of my friend Keena, the cake table was completed and was able to get a few photos from the final product and party. Thanks Keena!

Before you know it, Christmas will be here...then New Year's Eve, and new memories to be had! Whether you were naughty or nice this year, I hope you were surrounded by loved ones to share those special moments, to celebrate your successes, to support you through the downs, to inspire you....just as Charlie Brown had with his gang.

You can catch A Charlie Brown Christmas on ABC tonight, 8/7c. 

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope it's filled with lots of cake!

~Abs of Cakes~