SweetBakedLove: Pretty in Pink and Black!

Wow! I can't believe that half of April is gone already!! It's been such a busy month and a long time since my last blog but....I have a lot of new ideas, recipes and news to share. I don't know if you remember me saying earlier that I was working on something really special with a cool colour scheme well it was a cake for my sister Diane's 40th birthday party. The colour scheme was pink & black. I like this combination because you can use different shades of pink, throw in some grays, whites and it all comes together to create a sophisticated yet playful party theme. This theme works well for all ages, from sweet sixteen to 40th birthday party.

There are so many inexpensive pink and black party decorations you can buy or make. My favorite stop is the dollar store. I got candle holders, streamers, party decoration, packages and all kind of neat party supplies at the dollar store. Use your imagination to create cool party decoration or if you get stuck.......Pinterest is a great site to find all kinds of tips and ideas for decorating too!! Check it out if you haven't had a chance to yet

Here's a couple ideas that I found on Pinterest which I used for decorating. I found a pin that show how to make Crepe Paper Rose Balls.

I bought pink paper tissues streamers and candle holders from the dollar store. Each ball take a roll of tissue paper. I made the paper rolls balls and used the inexpensive candler holders to display them. Cost was approximately $9.00 for all four, a bit time consuming but totally worth it.

Blinged out Crepe Paper Rose Balls

My other sister Gail found a super cute pin which was a container filled with gumballs and a tag attached saying 40 blows, here's my version of it. Not only is it cute, but you also get to eat the gum balls or you can do what my sister did take it to work and sell the gumballs to co worker for a buck a piece...that's just good business sense :) Funny coincidence, that's what I thought of charging the guests when I bought all the gumballs, then the party pays for it self...haha!! Between my sister and I, we came up with some very cool party decorations and it all look FABULOUS!

I set up a candy buffet using clear apothecary jars filled with pink kisses, pink popcorn and gumballs. Who doesn't enjoy having a snack bar at hand?

Milk vase filled with pink roses and white feather.

The table was decorated with a pink tablecloth, black feather boa, fake diamonds, black cutlery, pink paper plates and fresh pink flowers.

I found these fun and cute sunglasses at the dollar store. Great idea for photo booth!

Even Sydney got in on the fun !!

Then came the best part, the dessert table!!The table was filled with delicious sweet treat with every different shade of pink and black your can imagine. There were decorated sugar cookies, chocolate tart shells filled with raspberry mousse, chocolate cupcake with pink vanilla bean frosting and of course birthday cake.

I love Paris in the Springtime.....

I love Paris in the fall...

And then the piéce de résistance. The birthday cake!! I had fun making all the sugar flower and decoration for the cake and yes I have to admit it definitely helped that one of the colours was pink! I like pink a lot :) Also that fact that my sister favorite flower is the peony helped too. I really enjoy making sugar peony, they're so much fun to make.

Once the petals are dry, then I dust them with shimmer dust.

I got a little carried away and made way more then I needed but I just couldn't stop. When I making something so beautiful it's hard not to get carried away sometimes. I guess that's one of the main reasons way I enjoy cake decorating and making hand-crafted sugar flowers, I could sit for hours crafting little rose buds and flowers, waiting with anticipation as to how the final product will look. I usually put a favorite movie on to play in the background, something that I've seen or should I say heard a couple hundred times and go sugar petal crazy!!

I still don't have a mold or cutters for a peony flower so I came up with my own technique to cut out the peony flower petals. I think it works great! I use a tear drop cookie cutter to cut out the petal shape then I trim the top edges with cookie cutters that have different shape and size scallop edges to make the ruffled petal shape.

Best advice I can give which I learned from Jacqueline Butler's blog is to:

1. Study the flower your going to make

2. Figure out how it's constructed

3. Recreate the shape of the petal (whatever way you can)

Her blog site is so helpful with sugar paste floral design. If you're interested in learning more about made sugar flowers I definitely recommend that you check her blog out. It's called The Petalsweet Blog.

And so many, many hours later I finished cutting, molding, dusting sugar flowers, pearl necklaces and all the other decorations I needed.

This birthday cake was a two-tier stacked cake, the bottom cake was a delicious German torte with layers and layers of vanilla shortcake, raspberry jam, apricot jam and coffee cream. The top cake was a carrot cake with a scrumptious cream cheese frosting.

Both cakes were gift boxes stacked on top of one another. Then tied with sugar paste ribbon bows, covered with gray daisies and pink peonies. Each gift box was draped with strings of pink, black and white pearls.

Almost there.....

Viola.....Diane's 40th Pink and Black Birthday Cake!!

Well I had a great time planning this birthday party for my sister. Good food, good times and great memories are the best way to celebrate any birthday. Hope your 40th was a great one Diane....Happy Birthday!