Birthdays: A Piece of Cake!

As I grow older, I've come to realize just how amazing my mom is. Three of her children (Scott, Melissa & Greg) have birthdays in a span of four days (January 15th, 16th & 18th). Each of us got our own cake...and I'm not talking about cake in a pan with a can of pre-made frosting. She created fun cakes for us each year; circus themes, carousels, Wonder Woman, football...you name it, she's probably made it. She did this with seven kids and a full-time job; I'm in awe. That's why I just can't stand the taste of canned frosting or the Crisco-tasting concoction they put on store-bought cakes. It's disgusting and a waste of a perfectly good cake.

So, for my kids I knew I wanted to try to tackle the cakes on my own; it's fun and inexpensive. I found cute toppers for Natalie's cake and cupcakes online, and I knew that I wanted to create a "4" cake. It was easier than I thought! My favorite flavor of cake is strawberry...hands down. It was my first attempt at using a pastry bag with a star tip, but I think it turned out okay. The best part was the frosting: strawberry cream cheese. It was fabulous. Okay, so maybe I'm not going to make it on "Cake Boss," but I think everyone enjoyed it, and that's all that matters!

For Calvin's birthday (two very short weeks later) we used a barnyard theme. My mom showed me a picture of a barnyard cake that was absolutely adorable---so I did my best to replicate it. It was so easy---the key to getting that fabulous color in the frosting is using gel paste food coloring. It costs a bit more than the drops, but it's well worth it!

Calvin was pretty excited about it, too!

There were little cupcake animals that went along with the cake, but for some reason I didn't take pictures of them! Oops! The moral of the story is...I love cake.