My Nephew's 2nd Birthday and My First Birthday Cake...

Today is my nephew, Colton's 2nd birthday! 

Colton is, well, he is a country boy through and through.  He likes trucks and cars.  He loves mud and 4-wheelers.  He is all about bucks, and he especially loves his three dogs.  He has no fear and an adventurous heart, one day he is going to give his momma a heart attack, but it is all of those things that we love about him so very much! 

Now my family LOVES throwing parties!  I mean LOVES!  My sisters are total Pinterest QUEENS and hit it out of the park every year.  So when I approached my sister about making my nephew's cake this year, I wasn't sure what she would say. 

I had seen this cake on a Facebook feed and thought to myself "Huh, I could totally pull that off." so I sent her a picture and asked her what she thought. 

She truly surprised me when she thought it was awesome and agreed! 

But, as it is with all things, this simple cake morphed into something much, much more!  *lol*

So after talking we decided on a 4-wheeler cake. 

Still, I thought this was going to be pretty simple and was ready to give it a whirl!

Then we went shopping. 

We were about to purchase a simple chocolate cake when BAM, out of the corner of my sister's eye, this little gem appeared!  So camouflage cake it was.  I have to confess that at this point, I started to get nervous, but I wasn't going to let my nerves take any of the fun out of this experience, so I set them aside and stayed positive! 

When I got home I gathered everything together and was ready to attack this!

While preheating my oven, I greased my new, VERY LARGE (as you can see, it covers my stovetop) cake pan and lined it with parchment paper.

Then I sprayed it with cooking spray to MAKE SURE nothing stuck to the bottom.

Then I prepared the cake mix.

I have to say for $4.00 a box, I was disappointed in this mix.

In essence it was a yellow cake mix with food coloring. 

I feel like I could have done this on my own A LOT cheaper, but oh well...

Next time! 

I made the camouflage colors and

Proceeded to make the dollops in the VERY LARGE cake pan. 

Yes, I know I keep stressing that, but you will see why in a moment. 

I had initially purchased three boxes of mix.

After doing this stage, I had about a boxes worth of mix left over,

but there was really nothing I could do because of the way you assemble the cake. 

So I put the cake in the oven.

Everything looked great until....

I flipped the cake over and realized...

That is was only an inch thick!  *LOL*

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?!

Well, I did what any good kitchen wife would do...

I high tailed it to Wal-Mart and bought more cake mix. 

I guess this is a 2 layer cake now! 

With that all out of the way, I wrapped the cakes in saran wrap and decided to decorate the next day!

I made the icing from scratch using my Mom's Homemade Buttercream Icing Recipe.

Then I placed the first layer on a board with wax paper around it.

That keeps the mess down and gives your cake a nice edge.

Or so they say on The Food Network.

I placed a couple of dollops in the middle...

And spread a thin layer.

We placed the second layer on and finished icing the cake.

That was not to bad...well...if you don't count the minor melt down I had while trying to figure out how to get the ENORMOUS second layer on the first without breaking it! 

(Sorry about that babe.  Please forgive me.)

Now you can't have a 4-wheeler cake without dirt,

so I ground some Oreos up in my blender.

I drew a dirt road in the icing and filled it with the cookie mixture.

Then I added some candy obstacles, a few trees, and a couple of deer. 

Now it was time for the writing icing.

I colored it and..

Put it in my piping bag with a writing tip.

There you have it a finished product! 

Yes, I know, my icing writing need work, but at this point I was a little worse for wear. 

(Again, I'm sorry about that babe)

Here it is, at the park, during the party! 

Yes!  It survived the trip there!  *LOL* 

And here is a shot of what the inside looked like. 

 Not what the box said it would look like, but at this point I didn't care!  *LOL* 

It tasted great and I got to be the rock-star aunt that I am!  ;)

Colton's birthday party was a great success and everyone one had a wonderful time. 

And at the end of the day, that is what matters.

I know that when you make a dish or a cake for a special family function it can be very stressful, but the important thing to remember is....

It's okay if it is not perfect! 

 When you put love behind it, you can't go wrong! 

Now, who wants to clean this kitchen?

Happy Reading, Happy Eating, and Happy Living,

~The Kitchen Wife~