Pretty Flowers {Easy Birthday Cake!}

This was super simple to make.  

I baked a strawberry cake mix in two round 8" cake pans.  I made a batch of buttercream frosting.  After they cooled, I frosted the top of one, stacked the other on top, and put a light coat of frosting over the whole thing.  I think they refer to this as a crumb coat.  I then applied a thicker layer and tried to get it as smooth as possible.  

The flower petals are just marshmallows cut crosswise with scissors (about 4 petals per marshmallow).  I made pink colored sugar by adding a drop or two of red food coloring to a 1/4 cup of white granulated sugar.  The food coloring makes the sugar clumpy, so I just stirred it till the clumps fell apart.  I then dipped the sticky sides of the marshmallow into the colored sugar.  

I arranged the petals, then placed an M&M in the middle.  I tried to cut fruit leather in the shape of leaves, but it didn't work for me.  I just used green M&Ms instead.

I used a round frosting tip to put the beading around the bottom.  I'm sure you could achieve the same look with the corner cut from a Ziploc bag.

Grace thought the flowers were pretty, but she liked the way they tasted even more.  I had to keep an eye on her or she would try to sneak a petal!  Love that crazy kid.

  I started cutting into it before someone reminded me that we hadn't sung "Happy Birthday" yet.  Love that mommy brain.

Apparently, I've got a thing for decorating birthday cakes with M&Ms or marshmallows...it works for me!

 Grace's 1st birthday cake

Grace's 2nd birthday cake