Pink Ombre Ruffle Cake (with birthday bunting!)

Today is my Grandma’s birthday and with exams done and dusted I actually had time to make a cake!

It was the first time in a while that I have had the opportunity (and time!) to make a cake that isn’t for a paying customer. I had complete free reign over the colours and design, and after a fairly boy-heavy year of cakes (e.g. this cake, this cake, this cake and this cake!) I knew from the get-go that it was going to be very pink!

I tried my hand at ruffles for the first time earlier this year (for mothers day… you can see that result here) and although they were super-duper time consuming, I loved the look. So I decided to go one step further and try some ombre ruffles, upside down!

The Cake

The cake is plain butter cake (from the CWA recipe book… hands down the most delicious butter cake ever) with white chocolate ganache, and then fondant! (And lots of it, with all those ruffles!) You can easily peel the ruffles off your slice if you don’t want so much icing.

Naked Ganached Cake

I did the ruffles relatively thick (1 inch strips)… and they still took me about three to four hours to finish! It was an eight inch cake, and the process is slower when you have to keep adjusting the colour of your icing for each row.

Strips Cut Using Wilton Ribbon Cutter

Happy Birthday Cake Bunting

When I finished the ruffles, I liked the result but it needed something on the top.

What to put on top?

I didn’t have enough time to make a bow or a flower, which was my initial plan, so I had to be creative. I remembered a packet of straws I had bought at a Donna Hay warehouse sale a few weeks ago, and they matched the cake perfectly.

Paper Straws

I made a cake with a birthday bunting a few months ago, and it was quite tedious and time-consuming to print all the letters and cut them out in little triangle shapes. I knew I didn’t have that much time to spare this time around, so I had a quick google to see if someone had done the hard work for me already… and I stumbled upon this free happy-birthday-bunting print-out! Seriously – how amazing is it?! And completely free!

If you’re after something more personalised, Etsy has loads of gorgeous cake buntings (both DIY print versions, or made-to-order and posted to you) starting at only a couple of dollars. But if you only have 30 minutes (like I did), and you like free stuff (umm, of course you do!) this bunting is perfect.

Thanks, Skip To My Lou!

In conclusion, Micakela was most pleased with the result of this cake! I love it for a few reasons:

• Firstly, it’s super pink!
• Secondly, it’s for someone I love!
• And finally, I actually get to eat it!

Keep caking xoxo