Edited: The After Photo!
We're starting the week of birthday celebration at our house tomorrow. Since the family is flung far and wide, we usually end up celebrating birthdays once locally, and again with the out-of-towners. Sometimes the out-of-town party is closer in proximity to the actual birthday, other times it's delayed by several weeks. But, we always get a chance to party! ;-)
The first order of business for any birthday party is, of course, The Cake. I have been making and decorating birthday cakes around the house since the girls were new - I took the Wilton Cake Decorating class just to hone my skills. (Only got through Level 1. I am not certified for fondant, and just barely made it through Roses.) I have a toolbox full of cake tools - decorating tips, icing tints - and a nice stash of shaped pans - metal and silicone. And I'm not afraid to use 'em.
Some cakes have been awesome: the Homestar Runner series (The Cheat & Trogdor), The Monkey Cake (tweak the frosting with a fork to make it look like fur!), the flower cupcakes...Others have been less than stellar accomplishments: the Barney Cake that almost read "Happy #2!", last year's pink and brown bowling ball fiasco (first attempt with the spherical cake pan and an off-site party. Transportation fail!). Then, there's the year of the Mickey Cake and the Almost Ugly cupcakes (a legend among the Sisterly Drama stories around my sister's office - I blame my pregnant alter ego, Hormona.) But, this year's cake has great potential to be Really Good.
Kate chose the color scheme, based on a butterfly cake set in the Wilton cake book from a few years ago. The cake's from a box, but the icing is from scratch (buttercream: mmmmm!). The Wilton version is all fondant, but this cake is the first time I've successfully been able to use the "smooth the buttercream with wax paper" trick to make it look like fondant. And, the lettering around the edge of the cake (suggested by my husband) turned out straight (albeit a little slanted) and legible. Yay!
Tomorrow's the big fun - I will turn the icing bag over to the girls to handle the top of the cake. Come back and see the after photos. ;-)
