Princess Ballerina

4-year old Zahira (Ashaz "Lightning"'s sister) is still in love with the colour purple but has entered the age of Princesses and Ballerinas, and all things pretty I'm sure. While last year's Double Birthday Carnival featured a Circus Tent, this year she went for a Princess Ballerina cake. Mum said that she loves buttercream and would like the cake to be covered in buttercream. For weeks I haven't had time to dwell on what I'll be doing for this theme until on Thursday, this idea came to me. Kind of a spin-off from the very popular Barbie cakes with the ball gown skirt of cake. But this version required tutu ruffles...lots of it. I've been using fondant so much of late that I was afraid I've lost most of my buttercream piping skills! I gave Zahira's mum a heads up in case I messed up the buttercream piping but she reiterated that her daughter loves the buttercream part of the cake. So, we agreed that it will be covered in buttercream nonetheless. If the ruffles weren't materialising, I'll change the cake design. That would have been a boring cake. Out came the nozzle and piping bag. I did the first row of ruffles and it was beautiful. From that row onwards, it was a breeze. I still have it!! Yay! In fact, the piping of ruffles were finished within minutes. Much, much more faster compared the fondant ruffling if I had used that method. The final part of the cake-the top, was still covered in fondant for a smoother finish. Mum was over the moon upon seeing the cake and I hope Zahira was, too! This Vanilla Strawberry Swirl Cake finished weighing 1.8kg.