Candyland Game Cake Replica

My shop has been WAY busier than I expected it to be for the holiday season, thus the reason for my absence. I haven't got to do all the crafting I was planning on doing for Christmas but I was able to have some fun creating besides making jewelry 24/7.

I was asked, along with a number of ladies at church, to make a gingerbread house for 'Santa's Workshop' for the kids to see before they saw Santa. I thought and thought about it but came up with nothing. While Mr. Man and I were playing one of our many games of candyland, I decided something with a candyland theme would be fun. So off to the computer I went for some ideas and saw some of the coolest candy/cake replicas I have ever seen.

I knew it was more than what they were asking but once I had it in my head, I knew nothing else would do. So with the help of my crafty and clever husband and with some restraint from the kiddos we did it! I must admit that by the end of it all I was a little sick of candy for a couple weeks. Hard to believe, I know.

All and all it wasn't too tricky, just took a lot of time.
To start I got a large board and covered it with foil. After that I made 3 sheet cakes, a bunch of butter cream frosting and let my husband have at it. He layered and shaped it into mountains. Isn't he good? It was way better that what I was planning.
Then on I added a layer of rice crispies. If I had to do it again, I would make the base thicker so it would be easier to add all the decorative stuff on top. Some of it got a little tricky. I would maybe do the whole thing in cake (though, that would be a whole lot of cake). Or maybe do a bigger base of rice crispies.

After the base was formed I got the hubs to help me make some marshmellow fondant to cover it all. Also not too tricky, just a good workout. All the squares were colored and cut squares from fondant.
I used a #2 round tip to pipe on all the the words and other details.
Gingerbread Tree. I used graham crackers I shaped with a serrated knife. For the 'leaves' I put drops of green food coloring in a bowl and mixed mini marshmallows around then let them dry. I then attached them with frosting. It was propped up by another graham cracker.
Licorice Forest. I used different types of licorice and either cut or peeled the tops to give it a tree/branch effect. On some of the taller ones I stuck a thin wooden dowel down the center to give it some stability.
Gumdrop Pass. Basically just a ton of different size gumdrops stuck on with frosting or stacked with wooden skewers. I don't know if you can see it but we did some 'Gumdrop Mountains' which were also just staked and stuck with frosting. Delicious.
Peppermint Forest. This part was probably the easiest. Just stick in all the types and sizes of candy you can find. In the forest I piped in 'snow banks' with butter cream frosting using a larger round tip.
Snowflake Lake. Actually this marshmallow/frosting area was supposed to be where "Princess Frostine" lived. I figured marshmallows would give the same effect but be more stable than piles of frosting.
Gloppy! This is Mr. Man's favorite part. One day he had chocolate on his hands and said, " Look mom, I'm Gloppy!" He makes me laugh. I did a 'pool' of chocolate frosting and then stuck lots of chocolaty treats in it. For Gloppy I got 3 large tootsie rolls and sculpted him. I softened them in the microwave for a few seconds at a time. His eyes were white piped frosting. The slid around a little bit but still have a good effect.
Peanut Acres, where Mrs. Nutt lives. We were going to do her house but we didn't have enough room so we just used a little bit of peanut brittle, peanuts and a couple of nutter butters to get the same effect.
And the game pieces. I made these out of gum paste using a mini gingerbread man cookie cutter and small circle for the base. They were much easier than I thought. I love gumpaste.
Last but not least: Candy Castle! My crafty husband sculpted this for me entirely out of rice crispies and then I went crazy with all the leftover candy. This was probably my funnest, favorite part.

You can also kind of see Lolly Pop Woods, also pretty easy. Just a lot of lolly pops. I got the huge one from the dollar store and broke off a piece so it was smaller and wasn't blocking the view of the castle. You don't want to do the lolly pops too much in advance because after a couple days they start to get really sticky and drip.
It took a couple days to get it all set up and on the last night I stayed up till 3am putting the finishing touches. I was extremely exhausted and was sick of it all. But when I woke up it the morning and saw it with refreshed eyes I was so happy I did it! Mr. Man and the Little Prince were practically drooling when the saw it.

Here's Mr. man with it. I asked him to point to his favorite part. I totally thought he would point to Gloppy because that's always been his favorite. Guess what he's pointing to? The train set that was in Santa's Workshop. Typical boy.

Happy Holidays!