Hand Painted Bumble Bee Cake

Boy what a weekend this was! I am in the process of relocating from the Philadelphia to the Baltimore area. As a result, I conduct business in these 2 cities and surrounding areas. For this particular weekend, I had a face painting party in Baltimore on Saturday and this cake to deliver in New Jersey on Sunday as well as 24 decorated cupcakes. I did face painting at this party as well. I prepared for everything quite well...so I thought. Baked the cakes on Friday. Iced them on Saturday after my face painting job with enough time for the cake to settle. Bottom tier is lemon cake with raspberry filling. Top two tiers are chocolate cake with Oreo filling. I woke up at 4 am to decorate the cake. I used fondant with tylose powder to make the bee topper. Covered the cake with white fondant and added the pink with the sponge method (the same one used with faux painting). Painted the rest using food coloring gels. Everything went smoothly. We lost power for a little, but that was only a minor set back. My fiance helped me pack the car and off I went for a 2 hour drive. Oh wait! I did forget something and Sean met me and then I was off for the drive. The cake wasn't to be assembled until I got to the party.

Then...I hit traffic...really, really bad traffic. There was a major backup at the tolls. The highway looked like a parking lot. I was about to burst out in tears. My 2 hour ride turned into almost a 3.5 hour ride. Thank goodness Sean gave me his GPS. It was my first time using it for such a long travel. I couldn't have imagined trying to read directions, obsess about my cakes and cupcakes in the car and then the added stress of being caught in traffic. One of my closest friends also helped calm me down. She and her friend turned my tears into smiles in no time. Thanks Fran-a-dan!

When I arrived, I had to stack the cake and assemble in front of a waiting crowd. I didn't notice until I saw the picture that it was leaning. I usually think to just move the tiers around til they are level...but I was so frazzled and really nervous with the onlookers! After I set the cake up, I then went straight to face painting.

My customer was really cool about it. And little Miss Tatum was absolutely adorable. Dressed in a bumble bee custom (The party was on Oct. 31). I've got something pretty special for her up my sleeve for Christmas since the mom was more concerned about my safety than anything else!

Face painting from the previous day's party