Home for a Partay, I Brought Cake :)

We are back. We went down south for a couple of days to do things like go to the dentist, eye doc, get haircuts, and also to celebrate Jason's g-ma's 80th birthday. We all gathered together at her house to play games and to just enjoy each others company. It was super fun.

I was deemed the cake baker this year. I thought a lot about it and knew the colors I wanted and that I wanted daisies on it. Everything else was a bit fuzzy but figured it would come together as I went. I also knew that there was no way I'd have time to bake and decorate the cake all in one day. So, I made it a week ahead and froze it. I was worried that it would end up dry but it was still pretty moist when we ate it. (I LOVE cake...but I cannot stand even slightly dry cake, haha). The recipe is Martha Stewart's white cake which I highly recommend. It's both moist and dense, two things I love in a cake. Jason's g-ma LOVES lemon and so I layered the cake with Ina Garten's lemon curd (easier than Martha Stewart's). I am really not a lemon fan but I was told it was yummy.

So, the blue part of the cake is a fondant recipe that I use (this was the first time I colored the fondant that dark...SO much kneading). The white and green parts (including the 80 cake topper)...oh, and the daisies are all gumpaste. It was my first go with this stuff. It's amazing. It's like "sugar clay" that you can mold and form...and then it dries and holds its shape. Super fun to work with. So, technically everything on the cake is edible...though the gumpaste isn't all that flavorful.Here is Jason and I with the birthday girl! Doesn't she look amazing for 80. I'd say not a day past 39 ;).

Anyways, we had a great time seeing family...on both sides. I was super excited to have the chance to gather with my fam as we were heading out of SLO...even for just a few hours. Nothing better than time with the ma and pa. :)