Hunting Themed Groom's Dinner Cake

Before I get on with the actual cake, I would like to gloat for a second about the huge challenge Michele and I have finally mastered! We have always had difficulties fondanting a round cake. No matter how hard we tried we always ended up with a skirting effect around the bottom of the cake! We cringed at the thought of fondanting this cake and thought we were setting ourselves up for a disaster, but low and behold, something clicked for us this time around! We placed the fondant over the cake and set out to work on our opposite sides. Within a minute we looked at each other and we both said "my side is totally smooth!!" We did it! Finally conquered the fondant!! Prior to this cake we had said we were never going to fondant a round cake again, but now that we have finally gotten the hang of it, we already have plans for two upcoming cakes!

And now for the actual cake!! The bride surprised the groom with this cake for the groom's dinner! He has a love for hunting and wanted us to do something along those lines. This is what we came up with...

Now imagine a very large fondant "J" in front of the pheasant feathers. I didn't get a picture with that on because I didn't want to put it on before transportation.

These deer antlers caused us some issues, but added so much to the finished product! Definitely my favorite part of the whole cake!

Also wish I could have gotten a picture of the inside of this cake. Better yet, wish I could have actually eaten a piece of it! We did a vanilla buttermilk cake with a berry white chocolate mousse filling and covered with white chocolate buttercream frosting! All of the individual components of the cake were delicious, so I can only imagine how amazing they tasted together!

Sure hope the groom loved his special cake!!