Cake Decorations

There are so many things that my Mother did in my youth, I could not begin to describe how wonderfully busy she was in taking care of her family.  She specialized, quite unknowing I might add, in creating traditions and memories that I now want to develop and share with my own family.  One of these traditions was birthdays.  She was so good at celebrating all holidays, but on birthday's specifically, she would decorate a cake of our choosing.  I remember the few weeks before, she would pull out her stack of Cake Decorating magazines and let us thumb through the pages to find the one that we wanted made.  Then she would somehow make it exactly as the picture showed.  Sometimes even making her own cake pans with tin foil and cardboard to get just the right shape.

Fast forward to present day.  I now have the desire to decorate cakes.  I just like to do it.  Pinterest has a gazillion cupcake ideas that I just can't wait to try.  And the decorative table-scape and such...I digress.  But the cakes is where I am starting now.  Mark gifted me with a large set of tips and piping bags for Christmas, so I really feel like I am off to the races! My first order of business, (besides my son's birthday cake) my Father-In-Law's birthday bash several weeks back.  Thanks to the great teacher-at-your-fingertips YouTube, I tried out an hombre something effect that turned out pretty cute.  Granted, the frosting didn't take the food coloring like I wanted, so it's a little amateurish, but I was really quite proud.

Father seemed really exited about it too.  Mark says he hasn't had a birthday cake for him in over 20 years.  So - kudos to me for trying to make him something special.  And he has thanked me for it a few times over; which has added to my confidence in making it and my pride in doing something nice for a man that I love.