Just Call Me Martha

So my friend Deb was commissioned to make a Birthday Cake. She was already committed to participating in Bio Blitz last night and today, so she asked if I would be willing to do the decorating if she baked the cake and provided the decorations. I was willing...there is something Zen about frosting a cake and besides that, Deb has the coolest tools to work with :)

And so Thursday night she brought over a six-layer coconut cake with mango filling and enough white chocolate butter cream frosting to ice the Empire State Building. And chocolate curls and little chocolate flowers she made and chocolate hearts and those little silver ball thingies and toasted coconut and iridescent food powder and...oh, the basket was full.

The first idea was to sugar some violets. Suffice to say, that did NOT work. Hmmm. Need a plan B. Then C. And D. After trial and error, I came upon this design and I must say I was pretty pleased with the result. The chocolate rose leaves have a little shimmer on them thanks to the iridescent powder mixed with a little almond extract. And let me tell you what a fantastic glue butter cream frosting can be! 'Cause smooth chocolate does NOT stick to toasted coconut. And FYI, tweezers are great for placing those silver thingies!