mixing it up

i had a photographer at the bean's birthday party and she's sent me a link to a ton of fantastic shots, but i can't get them downloaded yet.  it was awesome to have her there because you know when you're hosting a party and are pulled in a zillion different directions, it's damn near impossible to be able to get all the pictures you want.  so the recap is coming, and it'll totally be worth the wait because it really was a pretty awesome par-tay.

the next day, we headed out to duff's cake mix in pasadena for a party to celebrate one of her BFFs' birthday.

the girls were put in teams of two, and together they chose a design, picked out all of the necessary supplies and made their cake dreams come true.  the bean was excited to be partnered up with one of her favorite friends:

 there were lots of fun designs to pick from, with detailed instructions.

i kind of wished i'd gone this route for the bean's cake the day before.  the fondant would probably have helped hold it all together, heh.

so after you choose a design, you start with selecting a cake flavor and a base color.

then you go down the line and pick out the rest of your goodies:  fondant, buttercream frosting, candy toppings, sprinkles, you name it.

the girls were ready and excited to get started on their cake.

and you know the old lady and i couldn't just sit idly by and let the girls have all the fun, right?  after seeing this:

we stepped right up and picked out stuff to make our own pumpkin mickey cake.  it's funny...i totally have most of the stuff at home to DIY it up, but when you're at a cool venue where everything is all laid out and ready for you, it's just more fun.  it's a little pricey, but makes for a really fun activity.

while the old lady started working on detail pieces, i carved out the lines for the "pumpkin."

we giggled as she formed a chunk of brown fondant into the stem.  because...dookie.

meanwhile, the girls were hard at work on their masterpiece - a birthday pusheen they'd dreamed up all on their own.

i struggled big time with creating mickey's face with the yellow fondant.  the shapes look like they'd be really simple, but most of the time the most basic of shapes are the hardest to get right.  i spent so much time rolling and cutting and rolling and cutting again that the old lady ended up making most of the decorations for the cake.  that's probably a good thing though, since she doesn't get to do this kind of stuff very often and she was clearly having a blast as she worked.

and then we were done!

with the bean and her buddy still hard at work on their cake, we walked around the rest of the shop to look around and take pictures.

by the time we were done with our photo shoot, the girls had finished their cake at last.  so cute, and especially awesome considering they hadn't had instructions to follow.

all of the cakes were placed on one table, and we got the girls together for a group photo before boxing them up and heading off to a local pizza parlor for some lunch.

it was such a great idea for a party, and the cakes were delicious.  the bean's cake was chocolate, while the old lady had chosen the funfetti for ours.  and after working with cake over the last couple of days and stumbling across some really fun decorating tutorials on youtube, i'm kind of inspired to tackle cakes as my next challenge.  i've never been particularly great at decorating them, but i really want to improve my skills.  that means a lot of practicing though...

so, who wants cake?