Heathers B-day Cake

Heather wanted a Cupcake cake for her birthday, new territory for me. All the ones I found online you just lined then up and frosted them together then put a picture on it, lame. So in celebration of her half marathon this year I decided I wanted to make her a running shoe cake out of cupcakes, no instructions just playing around with different ideas until it worked. I used a recipe I found for some really good cupcakes, http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Self-Filled-Cupcakes-II/Detail.aspx?src=etaf these are really good. I cut the sole of the shoe out of a 9x13 yellow cake which I had frozen, I then frosted it and froze it again. I then arranged the cupcakes around the outside of the shoe, I put steps in the middle to raise the 2 middle cupcakes. I then used the cut off cake to make the back of the shoe then froze it again so it was hard for the frosting to go on. I used a large piping nozel to pipe strips of cream cheese frosting on top and then tried to cover all the sides and make it as smooth as possible. I then cut the laces, Nike, Swoosh and the front decals out of fondant, then froze it again so it would set and hold. Here is what it looked like, not bad for a first cupcake cake with the only design being in my head.