“New Life” Cake

 I know that most of you who visit my blog come expecting to see cards, but once in a while, for special occasions, I take off my paper crafting hat and put on my cake decorating hat.

Now, I am not a professional baker by any means, but I was honored to be asked by my sister to make a cake for the very special party she threw this afternoon celebrating her triumph over a serious health challenge. Throughout this one-year journey she has shown such strength and courage, and she asked for a cake that symbolized rebirth and renewal. After a great deal of thought, butterflies seemed like the perfect choice.
For those of you interested in the details, the tiers are 12” and 9”. The top tier is butter cake filled with chocolate hazelnut buttercream, and the bottom layer is chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache, raspberry filling, and fresh raspberries. It’s covered in buttercream flavored fondant. The butterflies are completely edible – edible ink printed on edible wafer paper. I glazed them with a thin coating of piping gel and cut them out, bending them in the center, before they dried completely. They’re attached to the cake with little dabs of piping gel.

By the way, it was an AWESOME party, with a live band, and my super-talented brother jammed with them at the end. And I danced. A lot. And drank a lot of wine. I think I need a hot shower and a nap. OK, maybe a nap first.

Life is good.