Mikey's 2nd Birthday Cake

A few weeks ago my little nephew Mikey turned 2.  I can't begin to tell you how much I love this little nugget, and I couldn't wait to make his birthday cake!
I had a hard time coming up with the idea for this cake because he's not interested in any characters or cartoons yet.  He's interested in his iPod which he's had for about six months now.  He knows exactly how to work it, and strolls around listening to country and Irish music!  He's also interested in the iPad and showed me how to play Angry Birds last time I was in New York.  I definitely can't leave out the accordion, the child loves the accordion.  He loves listening to my dad play the accordion, and he has his own little one that he tries to play while tapping his foot the way my dad does.  It's ridiculously adorable!
So I was thinking about making him an iPod cake, but really, he's 2 and he's still a baby.  I figure in a few years he'll be telling me exactly what kind of cake he wants, so while I still have some say I wanted to make something cute!  I opted to go with a dog themed cake in blue with paw prints all around the side.  This then led to making a dog out of gum paste.  I went with the gum paste dog because I never made one before, and I like to challenge myself.  So about fifteen minutes in I was wondering what I got myself into.  I'm used to making flowers and shoes, not animals! It doesn't help that I'm severely lacking in the patience department either.  Anyway after about an hour, okay maybe two, it started to look like a dog.  Once I started adding the details like his ears and tail he was looking pretty cute.  Last I painted black spots on the dog to match the paw prints I put around the cake.  I then tinted some gum paste red to make a big number 2 to put on top of the cake as well.

 I was pretty happy with the result, and most importantly so was Mikey!  The cake itself was double chocolate with a cookies and cream filling.  I also made coordinating cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla  which were a great idea because there were so many kids at the party.  I didn't get a picture of the birthday boy eating cake because he swiped a cupcake and had it gone in under 2 minutes!

After he was done with his cupcake, we all sang Happy Birthday, and then he moved on to the accordion! And yes he plays it backwards!

The following day we had cake at my parent's house, and this time he went right for the dog!  At the end of the night after all that partying when anyone would have been wiped, he was sitting in the living room still playing his accordion!  I have a feeling he might grow up to be a musician!