Ugh. I am like 5 lbs heavier today. I spent all day Saturday making this cake and *sampling* the frosting at various critical junctures. Yeah, I was just eating the heck out of the stuff. I couldn't stop. It was sooo good. And now I feel sick. If I'd just known when to quit, I would have been fine, but there was all this delicious chocolate ganache and marshmallow fondant and...oh, God it was good.
Look. Totoro can hardly bear to look at me...I'm that miserable.
You might be able to see from this photo just a hint of the deeeluscious ganache frosting that I poured all over this guy. You might even be able to see where I repositioned the nose. You have to get the nose position just right or it won't look exactly like Totoro. I based the cake loosely on the below image.
Isn't he cute? He's cute and the movie is cute, but watch the hell out for chocolate Totoro, he's deadly. Deceptively sweet. Rich and chocolatey. Spell check says chocolatey is not a word, but I beg to differ. Oh, Totoro, how you have destroyed my digestive peace! How you churn away in my stomach for an eternity! Why?! Why did I have to eat so much of your delectable outer coating? UUUURGH! UUUUNG! The pleasure! The pain!
Oh well, happy birthday, Louis. 13 may be your lucky number, but it hasn't been mine so far. Still, I think I may have captured the essence of the Totoro character here. I at least can say that. Even if I have no common sense and ate too much of the frosting while decorating, at least I have photos to prove that I'm a mean (though not so lean) cake-making Mamma.