Our Girl Erin Turned 25!

Love you sweetheart~

This is a vanilla bean cake with a coconut buttercream frosting. I mildly flavored the cake with a hint of coconut using coconut milk and coconut extract.

Crumb coated and waiting for the marshmallow fondant~

I made extra fondant to cover the cake board surrounding the finished cake.

I have a lot of practice ahead of me before mastering what should look like lacework! Next time, I'll add a whole lot more of the cut-outs and make the lines between them shorter. For every line that was piped properly I broke 5! I was attempting to redo a broken line and instead of patiently picking up the broken piece of royal icing with a damp paint brush, I blew on it.
NOTE TO SELF:

 NEVER BLOW ON STRANDS OF ROYAL ICING!!

They will collapse :o(

Because of time constraints, I didn't redo the top of this cake. And even though she loved it, I promise to make a spectacular cake on her 26th!!

This is my experiment with pearls, lace and frilly ruffles...not bad for a first attempt.

I decided to post a close up to show how messy the lace looks when not done properly. In person and in full cake photos, the lace looked just fine. But if you look closely you'd have seen the broken strands of royal icing.

I WILL GET BETTER! I'm determined to perfect cake designs!