My Brother's Birthday

It was my brother's birthday last week, but we weren't able to celebrate until that weekend. We decided to have chicken parmigian at home and I would make his cake. He told me that he wanted vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. I looked around for different white and yellow cakes. I thought I had found the one, but then many of the comments from readers said that there cakes fell in the middle. I couldn't take that kind of risk on a birthday cake, especially one for my brother. So, I went the my Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and found a recipe for Traditional Yellow Birthday Cake. I figured that I couldn't go wrong with that kind of title.

I baked the cake which turned out pretty dense, almost like a pound cake, and cut it to form a two-layer rectangle cake. Then a whipped up some chocolate buttercream as well as vanilla buttercream, for decorating. Now I admit, making perfect corners on a cake is hella hard. I kept going over it, screwing it up, then going over it again. I finally gave up and went with the "rustic" look, haha. (I hope no one asks for a sheet cake anytime soon or I'll be in a pickle!)

For the decorations I wanted to try this flower I had seen on I am Baker. I know, flowers on a guys cake? But I knew my brother wouldn't care that I practiced decorating on his cake as long as it tasted good! So I took my rose tip and piped little petals in a circle (I made a template with a round cutter). Then I made a second layer to give it some height. They turned out surprisingly well and for the middle a put a chocolate covered cocoa nib, AMAZING! (you can find them here)

I have a wedding cake coming up and I'm thinking about using those flowers on the cake. The woman wants white on white so for the middle I'll use white pearls. I'm really excited/nervous about the cake, I don't want to let the bride down with my design, but she's having an extremely small reception and only wants a 3-layer round cake, so I think the simplicity of the flowers will compliment the event. Wish me luck!