Boo at the Zoo & Cake

Today was a big day! Eisley's baptism! I'll post pictures of that later, as I still have to get them together...

Yesterday was lots of excitement, too. Justin had to work, but the rest of my family went to Boo at the Zoo. Despite the horrid parking situation (I drove around the lot for a total of 8 miles looking for a parking spot!) it was really beautiful and fun day.

Eisley wore her piggy costume, this was right before we left the house:



Mom & Bea:

Gramma Jan and Pappa with their granddaughters:

Me & Eisley:

Me & my sister, Bea:
Eisley slept almost the whole time:

Me and my dad:

Indy was clinging to her Pappa all day. She would have no one else as her zoo buddy, it could only be Pappa:

Here's my sister Bea, with her family - Indy, Ayla, and Noah:


When I got home I made the cake for Eisley's baptism party after church. I've always wanted to get more into cake decorating, so I took the opportunity to practice my skills. It was a 3 layer chocolate cake (box mix) with buttercream frosting from scratch. I did use pre-made for the borders...

I was really nervous about this cake. I needed it to turn out well, but 3 layers of super soft moist chocolate cake isn't the easiest for a beginner to layer and frost:

The second layer split coming out of the pan (I greased and floured really well too!) so I kinda panicked at this point, but tried to use some frosting as glue:


I didn't have enough frosting to do a crumb coat, but it was okay. This is the cake, pre-smoothing:


To get the buttercream super smooth, I used the Viva paper towel trick. That's an amazing technique!Next I added some borders and a cross in the center. I was starting to feel pretty good about it at this point:

Then I added a rose in the middle of the cross (I really need to practice those more) and the words "God Bless Eisley" and some sugar sparkles on top. Here's the final product:


I learned some great skills and got my buttercream recipe from SeriousCakes on Youtube! She's the best.