Isn't this the coolest cake ever?!?!?!  I had a lot of fun with it.  And it was pretty simple.  I baked two 4-inch round layers, split them both to make 4 layers of cake, and then filled and stacked.  After letting the crumb coat set up, I rolled out some fondant (keeping it pretty thick, about 1/4 inch), laid the cake down sideways on the fondant, cut the bottom and the top (leave room for the rim), and then rolled it up. My two semesters of college ceramics definitely paid off here.

The picture below shows my hand on the handle for scale.  Its a very small cake, only 6 servings.  The black "coffee" at the top is made of royal icing.  I handpainted the cheesy sayings.  I wanted this to look like one of those "#1 Dad" mugs some men get on Father's Day.  And finally, you can't have coffee without the morning paper, right?  I covered the cake board in newspaper to give it a truly authentic look. 

What do you think?

With love, Ev