Happy Birthday Stars!

My very first foray into making a Birthday cake was this past July when I offered to make the cake for my Hubby and his twin sister at our family birthday party.  My Mom had been a fabulous cake decorator and I had watched her many times in my youth, but I had never taken it upon myself to learn.  With the help of my niece (who did sit at her Grandma's right arm watching and learning dutifully), I was able to make a beautiful cake that was enjoyed by Hubby and his family.

I used a normal Betty Crocker cake mix (French Vanilla I believe if memory serves) and baked 2- 9" round cakes.  Once they cooled completely, my niece showed me how to skim the top off the one to make a flat base for the second cake to sit in.  She then frosted the outside of the cake while I prepared my colors for the decorating.

I used Wilton food colorings:  Cornflower Blue, Buttercup Yellow, Juniper Green and Aster Mauve as well as the white Buttercream.  The main layer of icing was just spread on with the metal spatuala, while the decorating was piped on using a Star tip.  I outlined the Star shaped designs with a cookie cutter gently pressed onto the icing and then outlined with the star-tipped piping bag before filling in with stars.  The names were later piped on using a straight tip #2 (or 3... I can't remember now).

Here is my finished product.  My one little "flaw" to the cake is that the layers slipped some, but it didn't affect the taste one little bit!