This cake is for my dear sister Liz. I'm sure that most of you probably could have guessed her name by just viewing the cake! Anyway, she has always loved animals with a passion and works as a veterinary technician. Her pets are all beloved members of the family. To celebrate her birthday I wanted to come up with something that celebrated that enduring theme in her life. This cake is the result. Each pet on the cake is a fondant version (hand coloured with lustre dust or edible paint) of one of her menagerie. Flint the horse, Peter rabbit, Thomas the kitten, Bob cat, William the pig, and Annie the dog. I tried to give them all their authentic colours and markings down to eye and nose colour. The large and small letters are made from handcast chocolate using a mold. By using fondant and chocolate decorations, and keeping the cake itself very simple, I was able to make this cake in a series of short bursts rather than an all out decorating epic. With a bad back I found this incredibly helpful and could strongly suggest this form of decoration for anyone else who suffers with health problems such as arthritis, back pain, carpal tunnel, etc. It takes a hobby that you love out of the realm of impossible and into the realm of do-able! To point out the obvious, the animals got a bit rowdy on top of the cake and left their footprints all over it as they were setting out the birthday greeting. They sure must love their mum to go to all that effort! Hope you like it as much as I had fun making it!