Mother's Day Cake

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

I got to spend the weekend with my wonderful mother-in-law (and father-in-law, of course). They came down to spend the weekend with us. We were fortunate to have a gorgeous day on Saturday and we spent several hours sitting out on the deck and soaking up the sun and fresh air. Spring has finally sprung in Minnesota!! Alleluia!

Well, since we were going to have a VIP mother in the house, I decided to make a special cake. This project made me nervous because I hadn't tried any of the recipes I was going to use before. It's one thing trying one new recipe - but trying four and then mashing them all together into one bite - yikes! But, I think it turned out well.

First I made two cake mixes - one white and one chocolate. I adapted them using this recipe. Each batch made two 8 inch rounds (probably filled a bit too high) as well as either 18 mini cupcakes or 6 regular cupcakes.

After cooling overnight, I used my cake leveler to level the cakes to the same level. Then I used it to slice each round in half. After that I was ready to start torting my cakes.

I got to use my new handy decorating turntable.

I alternated the chocolate and white layers. Between three layers, I used Oreo filling and in the other two I used the same buttercream I was icing the cake with.

After leveling trimming the sides to be even and adding a crumb coat and a top layer of frosting, it was time to decorate. This is also where I learned that getting a cake perfectly smooth on the outside is HARD! Definitely going to need some practice on that one!

But anyway, I found this adorable cake by a very talented baker and food blogger (who happens to also be from Minnesota - woo hoo!!). Her name is Amanda and her blog is i am baker. Definitely check her out - she has the most amazing ideas! There are so many I can't wait to try out!

I decided to change the "Happy Birthday" message on her cake to "Happy Mother's Day."

I love the way the letter look like grass and flower stems.

I mean, who thinks of adorable ideas like this?

Next comes flowers... I decided to use pink, purple, and blue.

A flower here and a flower there and this is what you get:

A Mother's Day cake for a very special mother-in-law.

I was very anxious to see how the inside turned out.

I didn't even realize when I was filling the cake that it would make this pattern. It looks like someone took three separate cakes and plopped them on top of one another.

Consensus was: it was good! A lot of cake and very sweet - but delish!

I am definitely liking my adventures in the world of cake decorating so far. It's fun turning a big pile of sugar into something pretty. Especially when I can use it to make someone feel as special as they are!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, and my step mom!