A couple of cats

I was going to make Sara a cake for her birthday. A giant, donut-shaped cake covered in marshmallow fondant like one I made about a year ago:



But she requested a cake without white flour, and I had no trusted recipes for one that wouldn't taste like cardboard. So I didn't end up making the actual cake, but offered to decorate it instead.

When I was trying to figure out what to make for the topper, there were a few ideas swirling around...sewing, cooking, etc...but Gage teases her a little bit about becoming a cat lady at the ripe old age of 20-something, so I decided to make her cats in sugar for the topper. I spent some time stalking her on Facebook to try to get some of the features right:



Then I made the cream cheese frosting and put together a little (read: enormous, full of everything I thought I might possibly need...once, about 15 years ago, I went to a picnic/cookout where the host forgot to bring a SPATULA for the hamburgers. I think of that every single time I pack up to do any food prep off-site and may overdo the packing...slightly) decorating kit. The boys and I went to Sara's little get-together and we finished the cake there:



We had some leftover frosting, so I put out a plate of pretzels with a cream cheese frosting wheel. If you have never tried this pretzel and frosting combo, do not start. It's extremely dangerous. I hadn't even thought of doing this (strange, since I think frosting is a stand-alone meal and will try it with just about anything!) until I took a cake decorating class and they introduced me to the notion. It's utter bliss.



Happy Birthday, Sara!