Wolfner Library's 10th Anniversary of the Recording Booth

Well, this was fun.  I made everything out of either chocolate plastic (melted candies and/or chocolate plus corn syrup) or fondant.  I had just purchased one of those cake markers in black, so I used it for all the lettering and lines.  Folks were impressed.  Maybe you can't tell from the photo, but this was basically a full sheet cake, rendered in two layers.  The top layer was angled to simulate the mixing board.  Oh, and the wires were made out of black licorice whips.  You wouldn't believe how many places I had to go to find that stuff.  I finally ended up at the candy shop here at our local mall.

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.