Flower Week

First an update: The Tinker Bell cake did not exactly happen. Unfortunately, the air conditioner went ka-put three days before cake-day and I had absolutely NO time to prepare the gumpaste decorations. So, instead I made my own ice cream cake, frosted it with whipped cream, covered it in purple sprinkles and put a Tinker Bell candle on top!! That combined with purple frosted chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with purple sugar topping and wha-la! A quick and wonderful birthday. And for those of you who are like me and are thinking, "gee, how in the world do you make an ice cream cake at home?" . . . well, I'm glad you asked. Here's the recipe.

ICE CREAM CAKE

1/2 cup Hot fudge ice cream topping, warmed

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

8 OREO Cookies, chopped (about 1 cup)

12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches

1 half gallon chocolate ice cream

POUR fudge topping into medium bowl. Whisk in 1 cup COOL WHIP. Add dry pudding mix; stir 2 min. Stir in chopped cookies. (I put them in a food processor and it seemed to work well)

ARRANGE 4 ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on 24-inch-long piece of foil; top with half the COOL WHIP mixture; top with one layer of chocolate ice cream. Repeat layers. Top with remaining sandwiches. Frost top and sides with remaining COOL WHIP. Bring up foil sides; double fold top and ends to loosely seal packet.

FREEZE 4 hours or until firm.

Now, onto flowers. This week has been aptly named the week of the flowers. I have just recently realized that I have only a few weeks before the cake for my grandmother and I should get on with making my flowers. So last night was the first marathon night, and I have big plans for tonight. :)

Last night's damage . . .

2 full mums. LOVE them, so I'm making more.

15 mum bases for further creations

And the remainder of the night was spent reworking the tylose gumpaste and coloring a bunch for the creation of rose bases this evening. Let me make a suggestion. If you are going to color your gumpaste, try to do so before storing it in the fridge. It was a huge workout to get it soft and then another to color it. I was slightly exhausted when it was all said and done.

This evening's task, 17 rose bases, tinted purple gumpaste (I am going to have arms of steel when all is said and done), and as many "fantasy flowers" as I have the strength to create after coloring. Way, way too much fun. :)