Let Them Eat MORE Cake

Another birthday at work this week (two in one week) but this time I decided to make a cake. This was a MEAN cake.

First, I used brand new cake pans and they stuck! One layer actually broke as I pried it out of the pan :( I finally gave up on having a perfectly level and symetrical cake (as if I have ever had a perfect one) and just concentrated on keeping the crumbs and the strawberry juice/sauce on the inside of the frosting which, by the way, was way too soft and hard to form good flowers/stars.

I took a beginning cake decorating class about 30 years ago at Frederick & Nelson (anyone remember the HUGE kitchen shop they had in the Seattle store's basement back inthe 80's?) and I still have a collection of decorator tips I pull out every few years. Last night I broke down and bought a few more tools because I do enjoy cake decorating although I'm not well-practiced at it, yet. And, I sometimes watch those cake decorating shows and am in awe of those folks who make it look a lot easier than it really is.