One of my co-worker's daughters was turning 21 this year. She wanted to do something special for her, but wasn't sure what, particularly since her daughter had pointed out that she didn't get a cake last year. Because she has seen the cakes I do, and seems to have a lot more faith in my ability than I do, she asked me if I'd be willing to make her daughter a very special 21st birthday cake. Knowing that the only way to face one's fear is to stand up to it and say, "I'm not afraid of you," I hesitantly agreed. Oh, by the way, another HUGE fear of mine is sharks. But I have no intention of jumping into shark infested waters and yelling, "I'm not afraid of you!" I'm also not stupid!
Anyhow, I advised my friend to find something similar to what she wanted and let me know. I told her the best place to look was...flickr. Ha! Bet you thought I'd say YouTube didn't you! Actually, I think we did end up on YouTube, but flickr is actually a great place to find cake ideas. There's some really great talent out there.
So we find a picture that she like's and I begin the task of recreating it, with my own twist, of course. Since her daughter likes zebra print, and pink is her favorite color, we decided on a pink, zebra striped cake.
Of course the fact that she's turning 21 couldn't go unmentioned so the addition of the martini glass was a must. And what good is a martini glass without the famous words of James Bond, "Shaken, not stirred?"
The cake flavor is chocolate, coated with buttercream and overlaid with pink marshmallow fondant. The cake board is also marshmallow fondant with oval cutouts that I replaced with green and red to look like olives. The glass is a real glass I picked up from Old Time Pottery (my oldest son works there. I love going in and harrassing him!). All the other decor was made with a gumpaste and fondant mix, 30/70.
The final verdict? She loved it. Would even let her mom cut it for two days! Another satisfied customer.
