Portfolio: Theatre Sweet Sixteen Cake

In one of my previous lives I was an actress.  I still do some acting now and again, but for the most part, my BA in Theatre Arts hangs on my wall gathering dust.  I occasionally dream of being an Oscar winner someday, but honestly, there's too much else I'd rather be doing.  Still, it was really fun this weekend to pull out all the stops for this sweet Sweet Sixteen birthday cake for my friend's stepdaughter.  Emma's very active in her school drama club and loves theatre and her stepmom asked me to make a cake that would reflect Emma's love and interests.  It was even more fun because Courtney told me to just run with it.  You got it mama!

I racked my brains and the interwebs for some inspiration before coming up with this idea of a two tier affair.  At sixteen, you think the world is your oyster and in Emma's case, it's her stage to quote an expert in the field.  The top tier was designed to look like a stage ready to be performed on and I decorated the side of the bottom tier with all sorts of theatre references.

I have to say, this is my best buttercream work so far!  And I really liked the design...it kinda reminded me of the circus, which I think is perfect for a theatre theme.  Sometimes performing can be a circus!

The front view

A side view

The stage...you can kinda see the outlines of the "boards" I drew on the bottom of the cardboard round.  Every stage has to have boards upon which to tread!

Another side view...the playbill was my favorite fondant piece!

The inside of the cake was simple vanilla and because Court and her family aren't huge fondant fans, I tried to keep the entire thing in buttercream.  I was really torn though, because this was served over Memorial Day weekend and when we do hot holiday opening summer weekends, we go big or go home with heatstroke around here!  I kept that cake as cold as could be before it was picked up to make sure it didn't melt before the birthday girl could get a glimpse of it.

Happy birthday, Emma!  May the world truly be a stage for you to dance upon!

Happy caking,
Kelly