Be Creative!

I have always liked preparing for my kids' birthdays. I love baking and decorating their cakes. I still remember the first birthday cake that I ever decorated. I cheated on the first one. I had a plastic bear that I put on top of the cake and then I put multi-colored sprinkles all over the top. It was pretty cute. The first cake that I ever ventured into real decorating was a Blues Clues cake for my daughter. Since that time, I have decorated multiple cakes for them. (I have bought some too, thanks to Dairy Queen) Sometimes I have cheated, but most of the time I have decorated their cakes. This year they both wanted me to decorate their cakes. C. wanted a dolphin and H. wanted the army battle of Omaha Beach (Army guy all the way! and no small feat by any means).

For C.'s cake, I found a picture of a dolphin coming out of the water on the internet. I tried to get the frosting color as close as possible to the picture, although it is impossible to get it exact. I tried to make the water look more realistic by dabbing white frosting into it. It kind of gave it the look of white caps on the water. I used a star point for the clouds, which really made them pop off the cake. I was pleased with the way this cake turned out. I would definitely make it again.

For H.'s cake, I used the Medal of Honor Playstation 2 game as inspiration to come up with my version of Omaha Beach. There is no hill (I only had one cake). There are no bunkers (too complicated). I am pretty sure that the tree is all wrong (it was either this tree or a palm tree). I like that I did the border in the same colors as those on the cake. I dabbed white frosting in the water again to make it look choppy and more realistic. My son was quite pleased with the cake, which is all that mattered. I think that it turned out pretty good (considering what he wanted).

When thinking of a birthday cake, be creative! Anything is possible! The more cakes one decorates; the easier decorating becomes. (I know, I know! just like drawing or anything else for that matter!) Practice makes perfect! Of course, you could always call me! I would be willing to decorate the cake for you! :)

Have fun and happy decorating!