Henna Thank You Cake

This was another quickie cake that I did. I know - you probably look at this and think "Quickie? Is she nuts?" Really though it did not take NEARLY as long as the cakes that need all the little pieces cut out and dried and delicately placed. It was truly a Quick Cake in comparison!

The way it came about was not expected so it had to be Quick. My friend, Julie's, mom, Waiva, used to make wedding cakes. Lately as I have been asked by friends to do fun cakes for their kids she has noticed some of my things - and Julie, who is a photographer, had asked me to do some cute bride & groom cupcakes for booth at a wedding show. Her mom ate a few and then decided to give me her cake baking pans. Just because she is sweet - well and she wasn't using them anymore. Having those pans cuts my baking time in half when I am doing something with 2 layers. I soo soo soo appreciated it.

While I was using them for the first time - and it was a super busy week with tons of stuff the kids were doing and a few too many cakes to fit into that frame - I thought - these pans are AWESOMELY helpful - when it is her birthday I want to make her a cool cake. So I called Julie and said, "Hey when it is your moms birthday let me know so I can make her cake." She responded with, "Really? Because her birthday is the day after tomorrow." I responded with, "Really? Great."

So an easy cake was needed. Julie has a LOVE LOVE LOVE for fondant - I knew her moms favorite color was purple..........so the cake would be purple. In trying to figure out what easy design I could put on the fondant I remembered a cake that I saw in a Charm City Cakes book I read. So I searched it and while it wasn't easy to find I did find Henna Art - which is what was done to the cake. Another search for Henna Art Cake brought a picture up that kinda displayed the cake I was looking for - at least enough to give me a green light in my head on the idea.

So I whipped up some Royal Icing and start piping it on the cake in a Henna design. It turned out pretty cute I thought. The kids came home from school and were all in awe about the cake. Even Dave thought it was super cool. That made me realize it was a hit.

I even got to deliver it to her mom that night while they were preparing for her birthday dinner - so I thanked her personally for her gift to me by gifting her a cake. A Cake for a Cake Maker. Sweet right?

This cake was Chocolate on the bottom and and small White cake on the top. All covered in a Vanilla buttercream icing and Vanilla fondant with Vanilla Royal Icing.