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!
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| The baked cake |
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| Ready to be decorated |
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SOOOO much frosting! Shoulda stopped there!
But then there were little cracks... |
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So, even more frosting! Time to put DOWN
the pastry bag & walk away from the cake! |
