A Sweet Surprise

About two weeks ago, I got a text from one of my close friends asking for a favor. That weekend she was going to be in Chicago to celebrate her Mom's 60th birthday, and she needed a cake. The hotel where they would be at wanted an incredibly insane amount of money for a cake that would feed 10 people. I don't blame her at all for not wanting to pay that, because it was down right crazy. She asked me knowing that my week was a little busy as I was preparing to make my son's birthday cake. She gave me an out, and I know she would never be upset if I had said no, but how could I. So we talked and settled on a white cake with a delicious raspberry filling and almond buttercream. Here is what I whipped up in a few days.

The flowers on the cake are made of sugar paste, and I did buy those pre-made. They are from Mr. Ace of Cakes himself Duff, who has a cake decorating line that you can find at Michael's. The flowers come plain and then I used my good old edible gold dust, some pink gel food coloring and a little vodka to achieve their look. Duff says to use a air brush machine to paint the flowers, but I don't have one and the vodka worked just fine. My friend told me that her Mom cried at the cake, not because it was her 60th, but because she was so touched that a close friend of her daughter's made it for her. This made the cake priceless to me. :)