Birthday Cake Practice

I made a cake on Sunday.

For the first time ever.



I was up feeding the baby Saturday night, and my mind wandered to her birthday party. I got it in my head that I was going to make her cake, and then I couldn't go back to sleep - ahhhh! I had in idea, and I needed to make it happen.

But I'd never made a cake so I needed to practice.

Ta-da!



I'm so happy with it.

It's adorable, and it's pretty tasty too.

I was more worried about the icing and the decorating than the actual cake baking so I used a box mix, following this tip from Tidy Mom, using melted butter instead of the oil.

I also used these tips from i am baker for the butter cream frosting and the decorating.

She's so talented and makes it look SO easy. It wasn't that easy for me, but I think for my first try it turned out pretty well.



And surely I'll do better when I make another for her actual party.

I'm kind of in love with the cake flags.



These are the same papers I created to use for the rest of her party - the invitations, the birthday banner, the labels.

I cut them into rectangles, folded them in half, cut them into triangles and glued down over bakers twine. I tied my twine on to bamboo skewers and topped the cake.



I think for the party I'll do another layer so it's a little taller and more substantial. And try really hard to make the icing smoother.

So, whoa! my baby girl is going to have a homemade birthday cake.

Never would have thought that would happen! But I'm happy I'm doing it. I can cross make a pretty cake off my list. :)

{Linking up for Wordless Wednesday: The Paper Mama, Naptime Momtog, & Project Alicia}