New Year, New Cake

How on earth is it 2020? Can we talk about that for a minute? I accidentally dated something 2012 just a few weeks ago... apparently I'm really missing my college years.

Anyways, what better way to ring in the new year than with a new cake donation?! How about a completely new cake decorating technique?! Well, lucky for you, that's exactly what I did. As some of you may know, I have a lot of solo time these days (my dogs would be offended by that statement), so it's not abnormal for me to crank out a cake at 9pm on your average weekday. As I scrolled through instagram the day before New Year's Eve, I stumbled upon yet another incredibly satisfying cake decorating video using a stripe comb. I've been watching striped cake tutorials for what feels like forever now, but I've never had the guts to try it. Somehow it seemed intimidating and I wasn't confident in my ability to execute it. Well... NEW YEAR, NEW ME!!!! I decided to give it a whirl. After all, I did invest in this amazing cake scraper set a while back and the stripe comb has been collecting dust ever since it arrived. Side note: I love Cake by Courtney. Her recipes are just as fantastic as her cake scrapers. If you're into anything baking related, follow her on instagram. You won't regret it. I tried one of her cookie recipes for Christmas and I'm still dreaming about them, but that's a story for another day.

So off I went to destroy my kitchen. I had zero plans other than being hell-bent on using my stripe comb. To my surprise, making a striped cake was SO EASY. This was a life changing discovery for me. I can't believe I put off trying it for so long. In fact, I had so much fun doing it that I went into work the next day and made another one with a different color scheme. It goes without saying that my stripe comb will no longer be collecting dust.

I did try to get a good time lapse of the decorating process so you all could see just how satisfying these videos are to watch, but my husband actually Facetimed me from overseas while I was working. I guess that just means that I'll have to make another one, bummer!! Seriously, Parker's virtual company was much appreciated. It was really fun to bounce ideas off of him as I progressed. He even helped me pick out a sprinkle mix for my color scheme inspiration... Normally the dogs don't have much input.

I turned to a Southern Pines Facebook group to find a recipient for this one and the responses were nothing short of phenomenal. I had quite a few people message me, several of which I filed away for future cakes, but I finally decided on a local family that was nominated by the eldest daughter's teacher. This teacher spoke such kind, sweet words about her student and mentioned that the mother has fallen on some hard times with regards to her health. For privacy reasons, I of course won't go into detail, but I wanted to do whatever I could to give them a reason to smile at the start of the new decade. I hope 2020 brings them love, happiness and most importantly, health <3

Baked with love,

Emma