Happy Birthday Laurel

You're ten! I won't say that it went by quickly. The first three years of your life were peppered with more ER visits and doctor's appointments than one kid should have to endure in a lifetime. But, you pulled through (more than once), thank God, and today you are a spunky, healthy, happy and very artistic young lady.
Happy Birthday, hot wheels!

Make a wish.


Blow out the candles!


Cardiovascular delight.

Building Laurel's Cake

She requested "yellow cake with chocolate ganache". My pleasure!

The birthday-girl wanted to help make her cake. Here she is mixing the batter. I always put the mixing bowl in the sink because it's easier to reach that way.

Into the oven.


Thirty-three minutes later and voila!


Since the man of the house had a birthday earlier in the month, I had a half-batch of ganache already whipped up and ready for Laurel's cake. Unfortunately the whipped portion, which is used as a crumb coat, was too dry to spread.

What to do? Heating it on the stovetop would turn it into a runny mess. After some thought, I channelled Duff Goldman and "busted out the power tools". A few blasts of the heatgun was all it took and the ganache was workable once more.


Crumb coat applied.


We let the cake chill for a few minutes in the fridge to harden the crumb-coat. Next, we drenched the cake in warm ganache and allowed it to cool again.

I normally decorate birthday cakes with whipped ganache, but I was out. Instead, we placed mini-marshmallows around the bottom of the cake, and used melted chocolate for the rest.

We started by standing a disposable piping bag inside a glass, then filling it with melted chocolate.


I piped out some butterfly wings onto waxed paper, then sent them to the fridge to cool.


I piped the words onto the top of the cake, and arranged the butterflies around the cake using melted chocolate "glue" where needed.

Ta daaaa.

Pinky

Laurel will be turning (gasp) ten soon. She wanted a "pink streak" in her hair to celebrate the occasion. How could I say no? It suits her style perfectly.

Step one. Take a "before" shot:


Step 2: Bleach the to-be-dyed strand


Then sit under the hair dryer for a few minutes.


Rinse out the bleach


Apply the pink dye, then wait and wait and wait...


Getting excited (she didn't want to look in the mirror until it was dry):


Beautiful!


Side view:


The whole process took about ninety minutes. She is loving it.