Sunflower Cake

This is for my beautiful mother. She is my hero, my strength, and my best friend. This was the cake I made for her birthday this year. A few years ago I did the same thing, only on cupcakes. 

It's darling and it goes pretty quickly! Just practice first, ok?

Also, make sure you get a good decorating frosting. Did you know that you can buy frosting from the bakery? Try it! Then, you'll for sure know it's good. 

But you know how I "cheated" on this? I made my favorite chocolate frosting to cover the cake.

And then I used canned frosting. Did you gasp out-loud? I know I'm the queen of "do everything from scratch." But I can't be perfect all the time. That, and I'm learning that sometimes it really is ok to cheat (not on your spouse, just with ingredients--just want to clarify).

Oh, so then I added powdered sugar to the canned frosting until it came to a stiff consistency. See how the sunflower petals stick up? Just stick a spoon in your frosting and tip it. If the peaks stand similar to the petal, you're good to go.

Let me know if you have questions!

{SUNFLOWER CAKE}

Favorite frosting (or canned with added powdered sugar--see above)

Orange & yellow food coloring (I prefer the paste coloring)

Icing Decorating Bags

Leaf tip #67 (or bigger if you prefer)

Oreos

Red MnM's

Arrange Oreos over cake (or one per cupcake) to your preference. 

Color the icing with orange and yellow until it reaches your preferred color. Spoon icing into decorating bag with leaf tip.

Hold tip against Oreo edge and gently squeeze and pull up as you let go to form a petal. Repeat around edges of all Oreos.

Place red MnM's around for ladybugs. You can add small dots to the candies for the ladybug spots.