Cake Decorating 101

The good thing was that it was a fairy cake...it was supposed to look kind of nature-like...flowing, curvy, magical...in other words, imperfect. The perfect thing for my first attempt at making a cake. Well, I should clarify...I have made plenty of cakes before...but none that required any ounce of visual creativity. The times I needed something that looked nice I would leave it to either the local grocery store, or my mother-in-law, who has a background in cake decorating. The task before me seemed enormous. Mostly because it was not just my 3-year-old or my loving, accepting family that would see this cake...but relatives that we don't see often, as well as Irelynn's friends. It's a good thing I figured they would be accepting, too.

Luckily, it went better than I thought. The grocery store sold a Tinkerbell cake topper to me, so I didn't have to actually create her image on the cake...that would have been disastrous for sure. I took white frosting, and added food coloring until it turned a greenish-blue, and covered the cake in that. Then, I carefully placed the plastic flower holding a dangling Tinkerbell in the center of the cake. Now what? I don't know how to create flowers. This was easily remedied with those candy flowers that they have in the cake decorating aisle. But...it needed something. Again, because it didn't need that perfectly molded look...I decided that I would try to do some green wavy vines as a border. I used the leaf tip (I only know that it is a "leaf tip" because my mother-in-law told me...thanks Mom!) and added little leaves along the vine. I also drew a big number "3" along the side. I cut the stems off of some daisies and placed them around the bottom of the cake. Well...I don't know. I *think* it looks okay....

I set it on the table, and the party girl comes out of her room. She climbs up on the chair.

"Wow!"

"Do you like it?"

"I LOVE it!!!"

All the worry washes away. It suddenly doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. In the eyes of a toddler...the cake looks great.

I suppose I have a few more years of easy-to-please younger clients. But I better sign up for a few lessons from my mother-in-law before November...when my preteen girl requests a "Twilight" cake...or February, when my husband requests a "Star Trek" cake. I don't suppose they make William Shatner cake toppers?