O.H...I.O

For Thanksgiving this past year my dad and his wife brought my grandparents and came to visit us because we couldn't travel since we were so close to the end of the pregnancy.  My dad's birthday is also at the end of November so when we are home for Thanksgiving we usually celebrate his birthday.  This year since we were home it was easier for me to surprise him with a cake I made.  My dad is a graduate of Ohio State University and he loves watching football.  So I created him an OSU football cake.  The cake was iced in buttercream and the lines on the "field" were piped on.  The helmet, big O and the football were a combination of gum paste and fondant.  The helmet was the most challenging.  I couldn't get the face mask to work because it kept falling apart.  My husband had the great idea to make a kicker's helmet instead of a regular helmet because it had less bars on the face mask part.  That was such a good idea and made life a lot easier. My dad is older than 50 but this cake would have been good for someone turning 50 because of the 50 yard line.