Red, White and Navy Birthday.....

I was asked to do a Birthday cake for a little cheerleader turning 11. Her cheer team colors are Red, White and Navy blue. Navy is a color I hadn't attempted in fondant. But I was very excited to try since I love the red, white and navy combination for cakes. I've struggled through tinting fondant red and black before and figured this would be pretty much the same. I was so right. I only needed the navy for the cake board and other fondant decorations but I wanted to make enough so that I had plenty left over in case I needed it again. Since it's not a process I'd like to repeat soon. 16oz of white fondant took nearly an hour of kneading and an entire .75 oz bottle of AmeriColor 134 Navy Blue. Note to self, wear gloves next time!

The other really fun thing about this cake was the inside! The cake layers were white cake tinted different colors! Something fun to do for a kids party. Since I wanted to use 4 colors = 4 layers, this cake wound up being 5" tall !!! I won't be at the party when they cut it so I took the picture before I iced it. I really would love to see what a slice looks like!!

The cake is iced in vanilla buttercream.....not my favorite to work with. I'm more of a fondant person. This is probably my best icing job to date, but I can still see all the flaws. Although I like the taste of my buttercream recipe I just can't seem to get it smooth enough. My future project is to try out Sharon Zambito's buttercream recipe. I hear it's wonderful to work with and tastes great. This cake also reminded me that I need to brush up on my piped border skills!!!

I am thrilled with how the cake turned out. I love the bold red and navy on the white cake. And it was a lot of fun to do since I haven't had the chance to do an occasion cake in several months. Thanks for looking!