Grandma's getting how old?

So this past September my Grandma turned 70. She really doesn't look it, but I'm told she is. Which makes sense I suppose, considering my sister and I are both in our 20's. In any case, 70 is a big birthday, so we had a big party to celebrate with lots of family and friends. My sisters backyard was full.  The nice thing about these family parties when I have to deliver a cake is location. My sister lives four houses down the street from me, so I just have to walk the cake down the street. Easy, fast and very convenient. (especially when I run out of baking supplies)

Back to Grandma. My Grandma loves the colours purple and blue. She also loves tropical things; Hawaii, dolphins, torpical flowers, palm trees, etc.. I wanted to use some of the things she loves but I didn't want the cake to be too busy. So I made a two tier cake. The bottom layer was chocolate. Surprise! The top layer was tropical. It had pineapple and mandarin oranges in it.

So, I covered both of my tiers in fondant and stuck them on their cake boards. So the bottom cake could support the top cake I put candy sticks in and cut them level to the cake. I know they aren't the best option because they absorb moisture and end to unravel once they do, but I knew they were safe to have in food and they are what I had around. And they're easy to cut compared to wooden dowels. With the sicks in place I could then stack the next layer on top on the purple tier. I added a blue fondant ribbon along the bottom of the first tier. On the second tier I needed to cover the cake board, so I added a border of balls of fondant that alternated in size. 

I decided the cake was lacking in anything exciting, so I thought I would try doing flowers. Not knowing how to do flowers and not even having the right tools, they turned out fairly well.

I made a purple and an Orange hibiscus flower. I cut out the basic shape using a knife, then I made the texture on the petals using the handle of a paintbrush. The handle actually worked better than expected. I now have the proper tools for making flowers, as you'll see in upcoming blog posts. (You'll also see me use a jelly bean for imprints on a border later on as well. I use what I can find) I also made an orange bird of paradise flower. In the end I LOVED the orange colour I chose to use. It made the cake more bold and gave it some interest.

Once again a fairly simple design, But because it was my first time doing more than one tier and my first time  making flowers I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew.

Grandma loved it, which is really all that matters. The guests thought it was yummy, and the woman of my family LOVED the tropical fruity layer. For some reason the woman of my family really like the tropical stuff. In the end it was too much cake. I tried sending it home with as many people as I could. We even sent some home with some woman who had just moved into the neighborhood. 

Funny story, The party was in my sisters backyard and the gate had been left open. All of a sudden this dog appeared in the party. Shortly after the dogs owner appeared to get it back. They had been out for a walk and the dog had run off to where all the people were. So my family, being overly friendly, started talking to this woman and found out she had just moved in around the corner with This was at the point where I was trying to get as much cake gone as possible. So I offered her some. She seemed reluctant at first, but after my family also offering she said she would come back after her walk with the dog to pick some up. Sure enough, she came back and there was yet another piece of the cake GONE. I love not having too many leftovers at home. I don't know why, I just have an aversion to leftovers.