Jordyn's birthday cake

Using the Iphone app called Instaframe, I made a collage

of the stages of making Jordyn's birthday cake for her

19th birthday. I love decorating cakes.

And here's my little secret, I love the decorating process,

I love making something so simple look so elegant, but

I don't like baking cakes from scratch, nor do I have any

success when trying to make icing either. That is why 

Betty Crocker invented easy cake mixes, and then

icing in a jar....see for me, it's the final cake, the

wow factor that makes me happy, and makes the

person receiving it happy as well. It's the making

it as individual as the person its made for, to add

details that will bring a smile to their face that is

well worth the effort of the decorating process.

And well it started the night before with me making

the cake mix (rainbow sprinkle is her favorite) and

dividing it into two round cake tins to bake.

The next day, I spread Smucker's wildberry jam on the

top of the bottom round, then topped with the french

vanilla icing and then smeared it all together, before topping

it with the other round. I then did a layer of icing, but it was

so warm in the house that it was falling off as quickly as I 

was putting it on, and I was getting super frustrated, so into

the fridge it went for 30 minutes for cool down.

In that time, I took all the roses (purchased two 

silk bouquets from the dollar store) and then once

I had seperated the flowers and leaves from the

stems, I took a wet cloth and washed each and

every piece that would be going on the cake, yes

it is an important thing to remember when using non

edible things on a cake, make sure they are clean.

Once the icing had cooled down, I finished spreading it, then

a simple technique I used to dimple it is to just use a butter 

knife and tap up and down, pulling some icing up as you go.

For someone like me with limited cake decorating skills, I find

it less stressful then trying to get that perfect smooth icing finish.

I then just added leaves, and alternating rose colors until I liked

how the cake looked, and since I know roses are one of her

favorite flowers, I knew she would love her cake, and she did.

Happy 19th birthday to my baby girl.

Love you lots xoxo