birthday cake

I was going to do a make-your-own strawberry shortcake dessert bar for Liddy's party, but flaked out and made my go to chocolate cake recipe instead, because we all love it so much. Here it is with a standard buttercream frosting (recipe from the side of the powdered sugar bag) tinted yellow and adorned with pretty flowers cut from—

Starbursts. This was a fun filled fruity smelling experience that the older girls adored. Tip—if you come up with the brilliant idea to soften the candy in the microwave, do it for only 5 seconds. Another tip, don't run cold water over the glass that got covered in melted Starbursts when you pressed it on top of a molten hot fruit chew. And a final word—don't tell you husband what any of the creepy cement-like brightly colored crud is on the glass when he does the dishes, just give him a blank stare.

Other than that, these really were fun to make. For reals. And the candle holder is from here, of course.