Princess Cake

One of my good friends just moved back to New York . Selfishly, I am very excited about this even though the circumstances stink.
While she was gone she managed to bring 3 sweet kids into the world that I have not had a chance to make a birthday cake for yet.
FINALLY I have my chance.
Her oldest turns 7 this week and was promised a birthday party . They moved without much notice, all her friends were left behind and she hasn't made enough new friends yet for a party.
My friend is wanting to do everything in her power to still make the day special.
Here is where I come in...CAKE!

I made the tiara using a template I found online, I made this one of solid gumpaste and added a couple details to it.

This cake also gets a princess wand, because they really are magic you know...
To make it I used a cake pop stick  and cut 2  - 1/2 inch thick stars out of gumpaste. I sandwiched the stick between the stars and sealed up the edges with a quick brush of some water.

I am often asked how I get my buttercream so smooth so I decided to make a very short video tutorial to answer that question. Even when I am covering my buttercream with fondant I use the Viva paper towel method to smooth my buttercream.

Remember, fondant is like Spandex, lumps and bumps under it will show through.  It is very important to get it smooth.

If you do not have Viva, any brand of smooth paper towels will work.
Ice your cake and let the buttercream set a few minutes until it's slightly crusty to the touch before using this method.

I never realized how hard it is to smooth buttercream when you are behind the cake and cannot really see what you are doing. Wow!

Here is the Princess cake that made her birthday special :)

I will be posting a tutorial on how I cover a cake with fondant shortly.

Any questions please feel free to ask.