Balloon Birthday Cake

My cousin turned 18 this month and I eagerly created this birthday cake for him, applying the latest decorating techniques I learned in class using "dimensional icing."

Yes, I did say it was for a "he." I wasn't able to achieve a deeper shade of the green and purple as I had hoped when mixing the icing colors, so it ended up in these pastel hues instead. My cousin didn't mind!

Those are balloons with smiley faces, by the way. You can tell how frantic I was to finish the cake in time to bring it to the Chinese restaurant where we would gather for his birthday dinner that night.

I used three different decorating tips to put the borders. An expert cake decorator would probably sneer at the cake crumbs that are visible on the icing. We were taught that it means the frosting I applied wasn't thin enough, thereby allowing the cake's surface to stick to the spatula as I spread the icing.

I'm a beginner, cut me some slack! Or better yet, cut me some cake! Save the Sensa for later!

The lettering was done with Wilton Sparkle Gel icing tube. It adds instant sparkle to any cake! Am proud of my cake decorating improvement!

Oh, and I just signed up for next month's Wilton course: "Flowers and Cake Design!" That's one course away from the "Gum Paste and Fondant" course!