A Royal Birthday

It is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada and I have so much for which to be grateful! Our little princess turned one this weekend. Our immediate family was able to be together one evening and also celebrated for an afternoon at the party for my granddaughter, Charlotte. She brings so much joy to everyone who meets her. I love watching her explore the world and see her wonder and interest in it.

I made her birthday cake and smash cake. My DIL sent me a photo she found online for an idea of what she wanted. She was decorating in gold and pink polka dots; fitting for a princess.

The bottom tier was chocolate cake with marshmallow fondant ruffles and the top tier was vanilla with buttercream and fondant polka dots. I used gold sugar crystals for the bottom edge and around the candle on top.

The vanilla smash cake was made in a giant cupcake 2-piece silicone mold. I made the chocolate case by coating the bottom half of the mold in melted white chocolate and sprayed with gold Wilton food spray.

Thankfully, it was very easy. Once the second coat of melted chocolate had set, I pulled the sides of the pan away from the chocolate, turned the whole thing upside down on the counter and just peeled the silicone mold off. It worked like a charm! The cooled cake was given a crumb coat of buttercream and fit inside the chocolate case perfectly. I leveled it off with a layer of buttercream and put the top half of the cupcake in place. It was covered in pink buttercream and then decorated with pink rosettes using a Wilton 1M tip.
The smash cake session was the first I had witnessed and I must say, it was great fun!

Charlotte got the hang of it after her Mommy showed her what to do (she only put her finger in and pulled away some of the icing.) I was able to get in on the fun when Charlotte crawled over to me (I was sitting on the floor watching) and climbed onto my lap! She was coated in cake and icing and now, so was I! I've never had so much fun being such a mess before.

Time for a quick bath, then back to the party. Happy first birthday to my little Princess!