Ta-Da!

June 26, Chloe's birthday, encompassed several rather significant "firsts" for us here in the W household. Consider this: we have never had a birthday party for any of our kids that involved inviting others outside our family. This year, we blew that out of the water and invited 10 little Asian friends and their parents to our (relatively) small apartment! It was fun to throw such a big, fun event!

Then, another important "first": I made a cake! Not just a "baked-in-the-bundt-pan-with-some-candles-stuck-in-the-top" cake! I was inspired by my friend Amy, who loves cake decorating and does a beautiful job with it. Last Christmas, at Clara Anne's birthday, Amy and her family hosted my girls for a meal and Amy had made Clara Anne a cake that had her favorite color (blue) icing and had butterflies on it. Clara Anne frankly remarked lately, "Mommy, that cake that Aunt Amy made for my birthday is my favorite one ever. I liked it better than the one you made me." The one I had made her was a breakfast cake, the blueberry upside down cake that Chloe also had recently, so I'm not surprised that she liked Amy's cake better!

So, after seeing pictures of a cake that Amy had made before she even knew anything about cake decorating, I thought, "I could do that!" So in the midst of a crazy week, I undertook this cake. Amy loaned me her decorating book and provided moral support. I bought all the candy and made the frosting ahead of time. I was ready!

I decided to tease you with pictures of the cake before posting the rest of the party pictures. In case you aren't sure what it is (remember this was my first attempt at a decorated cake), take your clues from the princesses out front. The cake was a family project--John helped with the construction and did some of the icing, and the girls put most of the candy on for decoration. We had fun making it together, despite the cake decorator's curse: crumbs in the icing.

So, without further ado, here is the cake! Ta-Da!

I have to say, it wasn't a professional cake by any stretch of the imagination, but it was fun. And, it was tasty! The recipe involved doctoring a boxed mix with dry pudding mix, sour cream, and chocolate chips. It was moist and lovely! And happily, after the party, most of it was gone so I wasn't tempted to eat cake all week. So, my first attempt at making and decorating a fancy cake was a success. It was fun! I may even be persuaded to do it again!