Circus Cake

This is a cake my son requested after he looked through my copy of the Wilton 2011 Yearbook.  I did not have the time that I would need to make it look exactly like the cake in the yearbook, so I made it my way.  The cakes in the yearbook had fondant covering them with fondant animals and ring master.  I covered this cake with store bought vanilla frosting and made the animals from chocolate.  The ring master is actually a Little People toy that I have.  One of the cakes in the yearbook had the orange and the light orange lines up the side of the cake so that is why I did that on this cake.  I also pipped a shell border on the bottom and a swag on the top of both tiers.  I found some images of animals, printed them off, and taped it under some wax paper on a cookie sheet.  I first did the outlines and other parts of the animals in black chocolate and let that harden.  I then filled them with color and let those harden.  Some of the parts were thin, so I took some white chocolate and covered them so it would all be one solid piece.  When those where all hardened, I peeled them off and the bottom looks like the picture!!  After placing the animals on, I put the ring master on top and I was done!!