Once in a while you feel stuck in a rut. I was in that rut. Having made so many fondant cakes and whipped cream cakes, I was dying to work with a different medium. When I came across Valerie and Christina’s work, I was intrigued. But this was last year. Something kept me from working with buttercream. The fact that i thought that buttercream was not going to be delicious. How wrong was I!

Finally yesterday I decided to let go of my own block and go for it. There was no occasion, so the kids and I decided that their Barbie’s birthday was a good enough occasion to make a cake. This is what I was able to make, while working for the first time with this magical medium called buttercream.

I baked vanilla cakes, simple, homely and full of buttery goodness. Then I made the buttercream. The lower tier was filled with blueberry buttercream and the upper tier with strawberry buttercream. Then I proceeded to work with the decoration aspect. Oh my, I was like a woman possessed!

I used inspiration from palette knife painting to create the canvas of the cake. Finally found use for the artists’ palette knives that had been with me for months. The piping of the crochet pattern was not as easy as I thought. Took me almost an hour to pipe the full pattern. While piping the roses and the leaves I realized I need more practice to create beautiful flowers (and better nozzles too, which I plan on buying soon)

All in all, it was too much fun working with buttercream. Yes, it looked gorgeous, yes it was well worth the time spent. But the question still remained, whether it would be delicious. So after the photography, we summoned the doll to cut the said birthday cake. After the doll cut the cake, it was time for us to dig in.

The layers looked gorgeous inside as well. When I put that first forkful in my mouth… I was transported back to my childhood. To my birthday cakes made in my mother’s humble kitchen. The same taste, the same feel. The cake was soft, the buttercream was sweet but not too sweet, as I had thought. It was a very homely, wholesome, and beautifully delicious cake! Just the kind of cake I love!

This marks a new chapter in my life. My new love affair with buttercream!