Last Air Bender meets Emperor Palpatine or "Birthday Cakes"

My wonderful twins will be 8 in late June.  This year, we celebrated their birthday early in an attempt to allow more friends from school to come.  Another thing we did this year was to request donations from our friends rather than presents.  The kids each chose a local charity and we divided the donations between them.  My daughter chose the Ark, a no kill animal shelter, while my son chose a local branch of the red cross where donations will stay in our area and help people affected by the recent storms. 

BTW, The Ark is a wonderful no kill shelter run by some very kind and loving volunteers. It is always in need of our support. If you haven't checked it out, please visit their site and consider making a donation or adopting an animal in need. You can visit them here:

http://www.arkinc.org/

I am so proud of my kids.  I gave them a choice of getting presents or taking donations and they very excitedly chose the donations.  Naturally, I wanted to give them whatever they wanted for birthday cakes.  So my daughter chose Appa and my son chose Lego Emperor Palpatine.  I also ended up making a special cupcake for a classmate whose birthday was the following day.  Everyone sung happy birthday to her, and we got her a special balloon.



The cakes didn't turn out exactly as planned, but overall I'm happy considering this was a single days work.

For the first time ever, my husband can say he helped me with the cakes.

The sign Appa is holding as well as the round things flanking the stairs of the Palpatine cake are his. 

L to R:  Avatar the Last Air Bender for my daughter, cupcake for a friend, Emperor Palpatine's throne room for my son









Appa was a mint chocolate swirl cake filled with chopped Andes mints. I'd planned on using a star or grass tip to pipe Appa's fur, but the icing consistency was all wrong and it was so late that I wasn't going to fuss with it. Instead, I just spread the icing on and created the best texture I could with the spatula.  The white lines between the layers are divider plates. 



Emperor Palpatine's throne room was chocolate cake with a dark blue swirl, as requested by my son, iced in dark fudge icing with mini chocolate chips pressed onto the sides. The top and candle holders are fondant. And of course, a cake for my son isn't complete without legos.

Cupcake for a friend.

Closeup of the edible star glitter before the flower decoration was added.
 This glitter is sure to become a favorite of mine.

Like what you see?  Be sure to check out my Dragon Castle Cake.  It's amazing.