neon pink and teal birthday cake

Hello, friends! I am so excited to FINALLY be sharing this cake with y'all today. I made it the last week of summer vacation for a neighbor as a surprise for her daughter's birthday. Her girl was turning the big 1-3, so of COURSE I had to make something special! This is what the mom asked me to make, and this is more or less of a direct quote, "I want something gaudy and outrageous and obnoxious! Basically it just needs to be colorful and sparkly and I want it to totally surprise her." Her only "real" request was that she wanted to include teal and pink, and she had sent me a Pinterest picture of a cake with rosettes. Besides that, it was carte blanche. So, I present to you, the quintessential 13th birthday cake! It is large and in charge, with NEON pink ombre rosettes, teal fontant, neon pink sprinkle-encrusted letters, and glitter-drenched candles. Oh, and homemade cake charms. Yep, I think I nailed the obnoxious part.

But I mean, really, what kind of girl {regardless of age} wouldn't love a big, girly cake with her name spelled out in sparkly sprinkles? I know I personally wouldn't complain. This cake was SO MUCH FUN to make! I know that to normal people, that sounds borderline insane. "You mean you had to somehow whip up a 5-tier masterpiece after working 10 hour shifts every day? How could that possibly be fun?" Well, that's just how my brain works. Cake batter and fondant and sprinkles and frosting are how I have fun and relax... so to speak, anyway. Wedding cakes are awesome, but birthday cakes are definitely more exciting and more fun to create.

Want to create your own masterpiece? Here is some help...
The cake was vanilla {recipe HERE}, frosting is vanilla swiss meringue buttercream {recipe HERE}, fondant was storebought {I know, I know, sue me} and colored with AmeriColor Turquoise coloring. For the name, I cut out letters from the fondant, brushed them with some watered-down frosting, and crusted them with neon pink sprinkles! Super easy and they came out so cute. I just brushed some water on the cake to make the letters adhere to the rest of the fondant. The candles are regular $1 candles from the grocery store, decorated using Elmer's Glue-All and some glitter. The cake charms were created using Cupcake Wire {from Hobby Lobby}, fishing wire, and simple clear beads from the jewelry department of the craft store. And, well, that's all! Oh, and for the grand finale....

THE INSIDE OF THE CAKE WAS TIE-DYE! That was seriously my favorite part because it was a secret until the cake was cut! The mom and I had briefly considered it, but then she dismissed the idea to make things simpler. Ha! If you know me, you know I prefer better over simpler. So I did it anyway. It turned out so cool, and it was a surprise to everyone, including Miss Mom. Thank you for the order! I hope you and your "little" girl enjoyed your surprise cake! 🙂