In the pink

Guess who's five? Well, almost five. Yesterday, we had a rip-roarin' awesomely awesome birthday party for little Miss O. I'm rather pleased with the cake end of things, as I'm the one who stayed awake for nearly 24 hours straight before I got a chance to decorate. I used my mother's frosting recipe this time. I also made Nick Malgieri's chocolate plastic and used a candy mold to create butterflies and flowers. Here is the cake:

And let's not forget the clever formation of pink cupcakes...

At one point while we were decorating, Louis looked around and said "gee, this looks like a breast cancer awareness party!"
Thanks, Lou.

Mom's frosting
1/2 stick butter
1 cup shortening
2 lbs powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter flavoring or other preferred flavoring (I substituted strawberry)
gel food coloring in desired color (yep, I used pink!)

Blend butter and shortening in mixer. Alternate addition of powdered sugar and milk--a few spoonfuls of sugar, a few drizzles of milk, until all combined. Add flavorings. Add a few extra drops of milk until at desired consistency. Add food coloring.

This is a great all-purpose frosting. It's never failed my mom for going on 30 years.