Tutorial: My Birthday Cake

Ahhhhh...it's good to be back. Yes, I've returned from my hiatus. Soooo...what have I been up to?  Well, I recently moved and I still have quite a lot of unpacking and organizing to do. I've also been busy making cakes (and cupcakes and all kinds of desserts) for friends and family. Yeah, it's been a little hectic but now that things have settled down a bit, I can finally get back to my blog. Whew!

I also celebrated my birthday and so I decided to make myself a cake. Honestly, I don't always make my own birthday cake. Sometimes I just wanna buy one from a bakery (I kind of have a soft spot for Red Ribbon Bakeshop; it always brings me back to my childhood). But when I do make my own cake, I just have fun with it. I figure, I make beautiful cakes for everyone else, so why not for me?

When was thinking about the design, I really wanted something pink and feminine.  What can I say? I'm a girly girl at heart.  I used most of the techniques I've learned so far - from fondant scrolls to applique flowers. I even did a little freehand painting.

As for the cake flavor, I baked an egg-free chocolate cake so that my son could enjoy it.  I drizzled a little bit of simple syrup in between the cake layers and filled it with cream cheese frosting. Adding simple syrup (also called cake syrup) is a very common technique used by most bakeries to keep cakes moist. To make simple syrup, just combine equal parts of sugar and water and heat it until the sugar dissolves. You can also add liqueurs such as Grand Marnier, Amaretto or Kirsch to add flavor to the simple syrup.

So here's how I decorated my birthday cake...

The two-tiered cake consisted of an 8-inch round and a 10-inch round covered in white rolled fondant.  I took some rose petal pink color paste and diluted it with a little vodka to make "paint." I used a paper towel to dab the color onto the fondant. It's the same painting technique I used for the mini wedding cake last year.

I also made fondant flower appliques and painted them using two different shades of gold luster dust.  I hand-painted the scrollwork design in between each flower using the same gold luster dust.

The fondant scrolls are pretty much my signature style so I definitely had to include them in my cake. I made C-shaped scrolls for the bottom tier and S-shaped scrolls for the top tier. I attached them around the base of each tier and painted them with black icing color. 

I used an FMM textured lace cutter to create the pattern on the fondant strips for the bottom tier.  It's the same design I used to demonstrate how to make a fondant frame a couple of years ago. After I attached the fondant strips onto the cake, I painted them with gold luster dust. 

I gotta admit.  This cake sure made me feel special but what really topped my day was listening to my son sing "Happy Birthday" to me and afterward he helped me blow out the candle :-)