I'll be 32 on March 5th and want to make my own birthday cake! lol Silly, I know...but I really just want an excuse to practice. Plus my DH will be entirely too busy to remember to order one for me from the only store around here that makes decent cakes...a gourmet wine/cheese, etc. shop that offers a few different specialty cakes. And I thought my kids would enjoy doing the whole birthday thing for Mama, too...they usually only see the opposite, as DH & I don't make a big deal over our bdays.

So what do ya'll suggest?? I've decided on the type of cake...my 'Chocolate Yum': chocolate layer laced with espresso, mocha-caramel filling....someone here (sorry I can't remember who & can't seem to find that thread!) helped me name it 'Cara-Choco-Chino Cake'! lol I usually cover it with ganache...but this time I want to try IMBC.

I just can't decide on what to make the cake look like or how to decorate it...I guess it's the style of cake to make that I want suggestions on. I'm open to anything...so bring on those ideas!!! (Attach pics, too, if you can!)

Happy Birthday JennT, I'll be 31 on the 5th!!! And no kidding, I'll be making my own cake too!!! My sister pretty much wants me to make myself an all chocolate grooms cake, since I don't have any photos of the ones I've done in my albums....I'll probably do something with chocolate covered strawberries.....

Well - Happy Birthday to you too! Isn't chocolate the best!? Especially on your birthday!! lol Good luck with yours & please post a pic!

Does anyone out there have any ideas? I just want to do something fun that I maybe haven't tried before. Stacked, a little cute without being childish looking, maybe a 'modern' twist to it...any ideas?? Just throw something out there to me...lol...I need some help getting those creative juices flowing!

saw a stacked cake once that was upside down....
smallest tier on bottom rising to largest top tier

of course there's whimsy

and could do a purse w/ money sticking out

or big piece of "bling"

or how about a cake decorating tool box?!?!

you on a couch/beach/recliner/bed sleeping

sculptured cake that looks like a KitchenAid

box of roses

Thanks for all those great ideas Doug!!

I was just thinking about the year I was born...1974. What were some cool design elements back then? Colors, styles, lettering, anything...I've done a quick web search but didn't find much. Anyone remember back that far? lol

maybe this will help

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1974/index.shtml

JennT,

I lived the seventies. Let's see if I can remember some things

Disco

Bell Bottoms

Mini Skirts

Hot Pants

Platform Shoes

Big Hair

Hope I'm not giving away my age

Okay, this has nothing to do with the 70s but when you describe your cake I think of something decadent looking like this; except maybe with chocolate IMB for the base. Drizzle caramel on the chocolate triangles! Oh, I found this on sweetsensationsbysue.com

sounds like a lot of the things of today..lol

I just posted a pic of my birthday cake. my birthday was this past friday. Sorry i didnt do anything exciting just some quick roses and rose buds case the kids were sitting there watching me saying.."how much longer till we get to eat it?" Anyway.. Happy birthday to both of you.

I like this too for a chocolate cake. Would look good in the chocolate IMB.

So sorry, not sure what website I saved this from (long time ago)...

Those chocolate cakes look divine!

How 'bout doing a cake from the '74 Wilton YB? Some of the designs are so funky...love them!

Wow! Thanks for all the great ideas everyone! I hadn't even thought of looking in the Wilton book for that year! Now...if I only had one! lol I did a search for some fabrics from around that time and came up with the ones below. Flowers were really in, huh?! I like the pattern on the purse...I could make it any color I wanted and use MMF maybe?

So that's the direction I'm leaning...I think! Let me know what you guys think about it and any suggestions ya'll might have!

yep those designs are from the seventies....

i really like the top one too!! i think it would make a cool cake !!

Ok...I think I've come up with something that might turn out pretty cool...but (of course) I want some input from you guys! I think the gold, orange, rust colors really represent that era well so that's the colors I'll use. Plus I can then keep the icing on my cake a dark chocolate, which will go well with the design, and still taste great with the cake itself.

I'm thinking I can do the pattern on the purse....in the colors I mentioned, using MMF or white chocolate candy clay that's tinted. Then I'd like to do the center flower looking part in the 3rd fabric that I showed above. I'd do the purse's pattern on the sides of the bottom tier and the flower-like pattern on the sides of the top tier...like maybe four of them evenly spaced around the cake. Is this making sense?? Still not sure what to do for a topper. Any ideas for that?

groovy...I think my parents still have that wallpaper! Now they are "cool" again.

I too was born in 1974...though you are much older than me. My birthday's in August, haha! When I think of that era, I remember itchy bellbottoms, beanbag chairs, ABBA, Tab soda and the Electric Company on the black and white tv.

Laura Sullivan at www.cakepower.com has 2 absolutely breath-taking cakes on her site that are simply amazing and use very 70's graphics for their design. You could do something similar to her idea:

My 31st is the 3rd and i sadly won't be getting a cake and the stubborn side of my refuses to make it myself. LOL!

Your cake sounds heavenly. Do you mind sharing that recipe? Including the fillings? I would love to try that. YUM!

My online buddies asked me if I made one for myself today too, but I didn't even think to. But now I'm feeling old since I was in school well before 1974! LOL.

Sheila - Happy Birthday!! Hope you had a great day!!

domesticgoddess - Happy Birthday (soon) to you!! The cake itself is this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/101275 ... but I use 1 1/4 cups coffee (I just brew some coffee with a few tblsp espresso...that way it's not all espresso and won't get the heart racing ) and add 2 tblsp Hershey's chocolate syrup from a can. For the filling, I use 1:1:1 ratio of buttercream, whipped cream and caramel and add 1/4 cup cocoa. When I put it all together I first put on my icing dam (using the BC/whipped cream/caramel/cocoa mixture) then spread a layer of caramel on the cake, then put the filling in, stack next layer on & repeat. Then cover with ganache or let the ganache firm up some and then use a spatula to ice the cake as you would with buttercream.

antonia74 - thanks for those ideas! I love her cakes and her style...something to aspire to, for sure! Too funny - much older than you, heh!?! lol I remember my Dad drinking Tab alllll the time! I couldn't stand the stuff. Sesame Street and Carol Burnett are the only tv shows from the 70's that I remember! lol And those shoes we had with the really thick yellowy gray colored rubber soles that EVERYTHING stuck too!!! YUCK! lol

Here's what I came up with while messing around on the computer. Ideas/advice is WELCOME! I might do the year as a topper and then write something on the top of the cake like...'a 'vintage' year' or something cheesy...like the 70's were! HA! Oh...wait...that would me ME vintage!! Not sure if I'll write that...

Thanks. It was a good day. Monday's are my kids busiest after school day, so I really didn't have a lot of time to think about it being my bday actually. I did pick up some ice cream, banana's and whipped cream for tonight though I like those retro designs. Very cool for cakes.

Happy birthday!!!

I don't have a scanner ... but I've seen a cake round to resemble a yellow happy face ... arround the sides of the cake different sized flowers like the ones that were in style in the 70s ... very colorful and pretty .. general happy look

JennT - I'll be 32 on March 27th...haven't thought about who'll make my cake yet!! Happy (Early) Birthday! (Just in case I don't get back on here before then!!

Mine birthday is coming up on the 7th - so i'll be making my own cake & i can't wait!!!!