Birthday Cakes

Here are two cakes I made this past summer for birthdays. My sister turned 21 and my uncle turned 60!

I made this quick in a hurry. It was very simple. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting. I made a Vikings themed jersey out off fondant using his name and the number 60 for how old he was turning. I wish I would've had more time to spend on the piping, but I think it turned out all right. This cake taught e to double check my decorating tips; I was having a hard time piping and finally gave up on doing a bottom border. When I took the bag apart I realized there was a smaller tip inside the tip I was using!! You better bet that I always double check before I put them on now.

The second cake I made was for my sister's 21st birthday. She wanted a small cake and mini cupcakes. I made a batch of devil's food chocolate cake. I filled the cake with a layer of smooth and silky chocolate gnash. The frosting is a lightly whipped milk chocolate gnash topped with sprinkles. I made one batch of gnash, used 1/4-1/3 for the filling and then whipped the rest of the batch for about 7 minutes. It wasn't stiff and fluffy like buttercream, but it wasn't thin like gnash...it was the perfect in between texture. The martini glass is made from blue piping gel and green sugar crystals for the drink. And yes, I picked through the sprinkles to find only green ones and arranged them in a "21" for her as I was not making a batch of frosting for that little bit!