January Without a Penguin Cake is Like...

...peanut butter without jelly, Easter without fluffy bunnies, Mulder without Scully - I could go on but I won't because my list of inseparable duos is getting more and more obscure. 

My point is just this:  After three years of making a penguin birthday cake (for the same little girl), my January really isn't complete until I've sculpted little fondant penguins and gone through vials and vials of black food coloring attempting to make penguin-colored frosting.

This year's cake had more of a Penguins in Winterland theme, so excessive amounts of black food coloring didn't come into play and nobody's tongue turned a bright shade of magenta.

A close-up of the snowball fight:
(Check out my tutorial for little fondant penguins and make your penguin mischief!)

Last year's penguin cake was a more sensible version of the original penguin cake.  I swapped out the party hat in favor of fluffy earmuffs - much more practical for January weather. 

(Lots of magenta-colored tongues after slicing into this bad boy.)