Tie-Dyed Cake, Phase 2

Sometimes, I have cake disappointment.  I work with a vision of what the final cake will look like, and somehow it just doesn't come together.  That happened today with Julia's tie-dyed cake.  The cake itself is great, with swirls of bright colors marbled throughout, but the frosting, well, that's another story.  I started with the idea that I'd pipe swirls of color in a peace sign over a basic round cake, frosted white.  I got into frosting overload!  The more I worked on it, the more frosting I loaded on, the less and less it looked like the simple peace sign I'd been envisioning.  Finally, I just had to tell myself to STOP and to leave the poor cake alone.  I had so much frosting on top that the weight of all that buttercream caused fissures in the surface of the cake, which I then had to hide by piping on even MORE frosting in the spaces within the peace sign!  So, if you think that my cakes are always a success, and that perfection is my goal, know that that is not the case.  But it doesn't cause me too much distress because, while I want my cakes to be beautiful, more than that, I want recipients to know that they are made with love and affection.  Cakes are personal -- they are part of me that I'm sharing with you, and if they're not quite perfect on any given day, that's OK, because, believe me, neither am I!  : )

 What was perfect today was my friend Lynn's big hug and reaction to the cake ~ she just oozes happy positivity, acceptance, and joy.  Her daughter Julia seemed happy, too, so that made my day.  I hope they have a wonderful slumber party tonight.  I know their guests will -- tonight Lynn is providing each little girl a menu of choices for a custom breakfast tomorrow morning, and believe me, their choices are better than your favorite diner!  How cute is that?

Here are photos of phase 2 of Julia's peace sign, tie-dyed birthday cake (which she seemed very happy with, thank God!)....  I just hope the kids don't go home OD'd on buttercream!

The baked cake

Ready to be decorated

SOOOO much frosting!  Shoulda stopped there!
But then there were little cracks...

So, even more frosting!  Time to put DOWN
the pastry bag & walk away from the cake!