Instructions

Bake your cake.

• Preheat the oven, per your cake mix box instructions. (I bet it's 350F though. It's almost always 350F.)
• Line your cake pans with parchment circles. I love these handy little pan inserts because your cake always slides out clean and you can just toss them after because #LAZY, but you could also grease the pan and dust it with flour, if you don't have parchment circles.

• Mix your cake mix, egg, oil and water or milk together per the box and pour into your pans.
• Bake for 28 - 33 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre.
• Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Remove from pan by carefully flipping the cake pan over and then lifting the pan off. Discard parchment.
• Allow the cake to cool completely (about an hour.)

While the cake cools, print out the free printable templates for your fondant work.

• Download the free printable pug face templates here.
• I printed them on card stock because I'm a bit of a bull in a china shop and I wanted them to stand up to my manhandling, but use what you've got. Regular printer paper is fine.
• Cut out each piece of the template. They've been labelled with what colour fondant you will cut them from.

Decorate your cake:

• Open the canned frosting.
• Stick a clean toothpick into the blue food gel and scoop out a small amount of food gel (less than a pea). Scrape into the icing.
• Stick a clean toothpick into the green food gel and pull it back out. Whatever stick to the toothpick is all you need! Scrape that into the icing.
• Use your offset spatula or butter knife to thoroughly mix in the colours. (If you're the kind of person who likes to wash dishes, you can go ahead and use a spoon, but seriously, who wants that?!). You can adjust the colour to your preference. Keep in mind that with food gel, the colour will deepen if you let it sit 5 - 10 minutes. ((If you want to make a different colour, you can check out the wilton colour mixing chart.)

• Spread the icing onto your cake. The pug face if going to cover most of the top and the spreading lines will make it look textured and rustic, so I wouldn't worry about getting it perfect or smooth. That said, if that's your deal and you really want to attempt a buttercream cake with a super clean finish, you do you! Cake Central has a great tutorial on using the paper towel method.

For me though? I got to this stage and I was like "WELP THAT'S PROBABLY GOOD ENOUGH." (Also, notice the big colour difference! This photo was taken right when the frosting colour was freshly mixed. The first photo in this post was after a couple hours.)

• Set your cake aside so the frosting can "crust". This is where the frosting dries to the touch and is no longer sticky on the outside.
• Open your fondant and pull off a chunk approximately the size of a hockey puck.
• Roll it in your hands kneading it until it's pliable, but firmer than play dough. Think of it like edible clay. Form the fondant into an oval shape.
• Dust the counter with a small amount of powdered sugar to prevent sticking
• Roll out the dough a little at a time, then flip it, adding more powdered sugar as needed to prevent sticking. Roll out the fondant to approximately 3/16"- 1/4" thick.
• Place one of the bunny ear templates on the fondant and trace the outside of them with your knife, cutting the fondant to match the templates. Set the ear aside. Roll the white fondant out again and cut the second ear.
• Dip your finger in a little bit of your oil and run it along the edge of the piece to smooth out the cut edge.

• Take another hockey puck sized piece of fondant.
• Dip a clean toothpick into the brown food gel and add a pea sized amount to the fondant.
• Knead the fondant, pulling it and folding it into itself until the colour is well combined. It should be a light brown pug colour. If you need to add more colour, do it. Just add a little at time until you reach your perfect pug fur colour. Don't worry if the colour looks streaky and odd as you knead it into the fondant. That's totally normal.

• Roll out the light brown fondant to 1/8" - 3/16" thick. Place the face template on the fondant and trace it with your knife to cut it out.
• Dip your finger in a little bit of your oil and run it along the edge of the piece to smooth out the cut edge.

• Take another hockey puck sized piece of fondant and add your scraps of light brown fondant to it. Add a pea sized amount of brown food gel to it and knead it into the fondant. Repeat, adding more colour until it is dark brown. If the fondant gets sticky (and it probably will) add small amounts of powdered sugar to firm it up.
• Once it has reached a nice dark colour, roll it out to 3/16" thick. Cut out the nose, ears, eye patches and chin. You can knead the fondant back together and roll it back out as many times as you need to, adding powdered sugar if it gets sticky. If you don't have quite enough fondant, you can always make more.
• Use your fingers to smooth out the edges.

• Take a piece of white fondant the size of a large grape and colour it pink. Roll it into an oval and roll it out to 3/8" thick.
• Cut it to the size of the tongue template.
• Using the back of your knife, add a crease down the centre of the tongue.
• Use your fingers to smooth the edges and flatten one end.

• Dip your paint brush in a small amount of water and paint the back of the chin piece. Press it onto the pug's face.
• Paint the back of the pug's tongue with water and press it onto the pug's face.
• Paint the back of the pug's snout with water and press it onto the pug's face. Use the round end of your paintbrush to dot it's snout.
• Paint the eye patches and press them onto the pug face

Make the pug's eyes

This is honestly my favourite part of making character cakes because this is when it comes to LIFE. They eyes are such an important part of that pug personality. And they're super easy to make.

• Break off chunks of white and dark brown fondant. The largest white piece should be the size of a large grape, the second largest the size of a pea.
• The dark brown piece should be the size of a green olive.
• The smallest white piece and the smallest brown piece should be the size of a grain of rice. Mix them together to make the medium brown. medium brown mix equal parts white & dark brown. Break off a rice sized piece.

• Flatten the large white ball into a circle the size of the W circle on the template with your fingers. Flatten the dark brown circle onto it. Rub our finger across the surface of both until you have a smooth dome shaped piece with a brown centre and white edges.
• Use your black food marker to draw a large black circle over the centre of the eye. Set it aside and allow the marker to dry.
• Make the pieces for your second eye. Flatten the large white ball into a circle the size of the W circle on the template with your fingers. Flatten the dark brown circle onto it. Rub our finger across the surface of both until you have a smooth dome shaped piece with a brown centre and white edges.
• Flatten the smallest white circle and the small medium brown piece into circles and press them onto each eye.
• Paint the back of the eyes with water and place them on the pug's eye patches.
• Paint the back of the pug's ears and place them on the top of the pug's face.

• Break of a piece of your left over dark brown fondant off and use your fingers to shape it into a triangle that is 3/8" thick and the size of the triangle template. Use your fingers to smooth out the edges.
• Use the food marker to colour it in black and allow it to dry.
• Break off two golf ball sized chunks of white fondant. Colour one pink and the other green.
• Roll them out to 3/16" thick.
• Use your knife to trim them into the flower shapes using the templates.
• With your fingers, smooth out the edges.
• Use the food marker to dot the centres of the flowers. Set them aside to dry.

• Paint the back of the pug's nose with water and press it onto the puppy face.

Squeeeeeee! It's officially a puppy face now - do a happy dance!

OK, you're in the home stretch now. It's time to finish this adorable cake.

• Gently life the pug's face and very lightly place it onto the cake. You want it to be slightly lower than centre.
• Press the base of one of your bunny ears into the top of the pug's head. Gently fold the ear over and rest it at the side of the pug's face.

• Repeat with the second ear.
• Paint the back of the the flowers with water and place them across the pug's forehead to cover the join between the face and the ears.
• Open your mini eggs. Sample a few to ensure they are as delicious as you remember. Resist the temptation to eat them all.
• Place the mini eggs around the bottom edge of the cake.

Oh hey you guyssssssss. You did it! This Easter pug cake is the cutest thing right?!