11.11.11

Today is LAURA's birthday!!

Tonight we are heading up to dinner in Salt Lake, staying the night at a cabin in Solitude and partying all night long.

I wanted to show you the cake I made for her. I don't remember what I asked for when I was turning 12, but my mom gave me cake decorating lessons for my birthday. It was the Wilton classes at the local Michaels. Definitely fun, but I don't think I fully appreciated it as a 12 year old. I learned a lot there about icing and using different tips, etc., but this was my first time making fondant. I had a blast. Definitely not professional quality, but it was exciting seeing that I can make stuff like this. And I'd had this picture pinned for months so I was excited to finally do something off of pinterest.

Because of my lack of professional materials, we decided to make the bottom in a 9x9 and the top in one of my pyrex dishes. The hardest part was figuring out how much time to bake them for because those pans are not listed on the back of the cake mix.

Here are the few pictures I remembered to take:

We ended up making 2 of the little round cakes just to use up cake batter and just in case the other mini one had an accident.

Covering the cakes. Little is definitely easier. And it is surprisingly hard to get it smooth. 

Ignore the fact that they are not all smooth.....

The mostly finished cake! I attached the giraffe pieces (like how I told you what the pattern was supposed to be so you wouldn't have to guess wrong? yeah, me too!) using a small brush and water. The hardest part was trying to do it before the other pieces started to dry

My artsy shot - with stuff in the background. Clearly, I need to work on my photography skills. But right now, I'm pretty proud of my beginner cake decorating skills.

This was my inspiration:

via

Maybe I should go see if I can find a blue giraffe or a pretty flower laying around. Or I can go clean my house.

Happy Birthday, Laura!