Kaylin's Garden Party

My friend Elly requested a cake for her daughter's 4th birthday.  I made Kaylin her Dora birthday cake last year to celebrate the big THREE, but this year, Kaylin was going to be having a Garden party.  How delightfully splendid!!  Indeed!

Elly requested a chocolate cake with a frosting that is not "too sweet."  Boy do I have the recipe for that!!  It's a cooked buttercream recipe and it is amazing.  It's now my favorite.  Absolutely.  Holy moly.  It's good.  

So this cake was covered with this deliciously smooth, sweet, but not-too-sweet buttercream, and topped with royal icing lilies, roses, primroses, apple blossoms, daffodils and violets.  

 And it's a family tradition that Elly makes and decorates beautiful cut-out cookies for her kids in the shape of their age.  Here are Kaylin's matching number four cookies.  (Aren't they beautiful?!)

I'm so thankful I got to be a part of your special day, Kaylin!  I wish you the happiest 4th birthday!!!

Clare's Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Making Clare's birthday cakes are so much fun for me!  Her mom, my good friend Kristie, always comes up with fun themes for the celebration.  The first cake I made for Clare was the My Little Pony Cake.  (By the way, this is my most popular cake...it gets like 200+ hits a day!)

Last year, Kristie requested a My Little Mermaid cake...  I had a lot of fun with this topsy-turvy cake. 

So this year, when she requested a Strawberry Shortcake cake, I was super excited!  This is a strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese filling.  I topped it with fondant and a cute little Strawberry Shortcake doll set that I thought was absoutely perfect for the occasion. 

I hope Clare has a fabulous birthday celebration!  (And I hope she loves strawberries!!!)