Birthday Cake for my 16 year old...

20 hours!  That is the magic number.  Laura's 3 tier  Birthday cake was a labor of 20 hours!

Tonight is my daughter's 16th birthday party.  She will have many of her friends over to celebrate with a good old fashion cookout.

Her guests will be able to hang out in the backyard, kitchen, living room and our new playroom/den.  Our old playroom  was really just a mess with Legos throughout and many little boys toys.  All that is gone.  The Legos, many trains and trucks are now in Alex's bedroom and closet.

Now, the new playroom/den makeover has been completed.  The playroom/den also has sliding glass doors that lead to the backyard, just like our dining room.  A new coat of paint (light teal), new comfy sofa, new curtains (sewn by me), new large TV (with the kids games systems - Wii) housed within a new wall unit from IKEA.  A shelf with our favorite board games.  A new game table with 7 different games (change the top to create a different game).  Even a re-purposed coffee table I purchased from the Checkered Corner - painted with teal and then sanded off (love the work Anita did to it).  Hope Laura's guest enjoy the room...I know we will in the coming years.

Perhaps, with this being Laura's 16th birthday, the thought of a simple cake was just not going to happen.  After much negotiations, (yes, Laura wanted something even more elaborate), this is the cake I agreed to make.

 

I honestly had no idea this would require so much time.  Why did it take so long?  

Thursday, 10 hours:

•  Baked 3, 2 layer cakes.  All cakes are from scratch.  Bottom layer is Coconut cake with coconut filling. Middle layer is chocolate with a raspberry filling.  Chocolate layer was time consuming as it required melted chocolate and butter be added to the batter.  Top layer is vanilla with a chocolate Ganache filling. 
• All three layers have a layer of Chocolate Ganache.  This was my first time making Chocolate Ganache.  Turns out it's extremely time consuming when the recipe calls for many chocolate bars to be cut into small pieces!  This cake has 6 pounds of chocolate bars!  Bottom layer (coconut) has a white chocolate Ganache, the middle and top have dark chocolate Ganache.  The Ganache seals the cake and keeps it moist for days.
  
  

Friday, 10 hours:

• Tinting fondant in just the right Tiffany blue is no easy task!  Rolling the blue fondant to cover the bottom part of the cake was a challenge...failed the first time, succeed the 2nd time!  Seems like I spent most of the time kneading, tinting, and rolling  fondant.   Since I work with fondant only once a year (Laura's birthday cakes), I am slow when I work with it.  

The birthday girl is happy with her cake.  She seems really appreciative.  Here are more pictures of the cake:

 Laura's birthday card I made for her.  I gave it to her last Sunday, July 21st ...her birthday.

Laura loves Tiffany Blue Color and Chevron

This year I was a slacker when it came time to make birthday party invitations.  I have made them for her for the last 15 years or so.  This year, Facebook.  Since Laura communicates with most of her friends via texting or Facebook, I had Laura create a Facebook event on her page.  I would like to say I am just embracing technology but no, I just did not have time or energy to be creative.

Although I think the card and cake count as being creative.